A Vigilante's Desires
by OrionRaiju
Summary: In San Fransokyo, a criminal gang is running rampant, taking the young and sending them god knows where. A Vigilante has a personal vendetta against them, thus he targets them and their business. Somewhat out of morals. Mostly out of spite. After a while this life is disruptIed, and the life he wished would stay away a bit longer barges in. MOVED TO FICTIONPRESS
1. The Vigilante

**Published: 14th September 2015**

 **My second story, my first romance/guy x guy story. This one may not be updated extremely frequently, as I would prioritize my first story, 'The Chronicles of Orion', over this one. If this one gets more popular I'll try and update it just as frequently as my other story. Anyway, enjoy.**

* * *

 **Chapter One: The Vigilante**

* * *

He leapt from roof to roof, making nary a sound with his actions. He blended in with the night, his skin tight black leather outfit making him a difficult target to see. He wore a mask, a white, porcelain looking mask, with red triangle markings on the chin and cheeks, pointing to the centre of the mask. There were also two narrow black slits where the eyes would be. The mask was more like a helmet as it went around the entire upper half of his head, but you couldn't tell because a long mane of dark red fur went from the back of the mask down to his lower back. He stood at a height of 5'7, slightly taller than most his age.

On his back, underneath the fur, there was a sheath, a sheath as black as night going from his right shoulder to his left hip. Protruding from the sheath was a silver guard in the shape of 2 hourglasses intersecting in the middle, and a hilt was black and wrapped in red cloth.

"How much farther?" He asked seemingly nobody, his voice distorted to sound deeper than it actually was.

"Only two more blocks and you'll have them. I'll tell you how many there are when you arrive." A computerised voice from the mask said. He continued to leap from building to building and when he leapt at the next building, which was many stories taller than the last one, he clung to the wall with the ease of a spider. He proceeded to run up the wall, being careful to avoid any windows. He jumped onto the roof with a flip and then ran to the other side of the building, leaping off the roof and falling a total of three stories, landing on the next structure with cat like finesse.

He sauntered lightly to edge and keeled, looking at the dilapidated building in front to him. The right slit of the mask glowed red for a brief 10 seconds before stopping.

"12 individualists in total spread amongst three floors, excluding the hostages, each most likely to be equipped with fire arms and bullet proof apparel." The computerised voice said.

"Thanks Eyes, keep a look out for the authorities. Wouldn't want them interrupting our play date now, would we?" The swordsman asked rhetorically.

"No, that would be troublesome." Eyes answered anyway. "And for gods sake try not to get shot, you leave blood behind and I have to hack into San Fransokyo's police database to order it destroyed!"

"Hmph, I thought something like that would be child's play for someone of your caliber."

"It's not that its difficult you ass!" Eyes said. "Every time I hack I risk getting traced. San Fransokyo has one of the most advanced computer networks in the world. Even I'm not omnipotent when it comes to technology ya know!"

"Yeah yeah I know, you give me that lecture at least twice a week Eyes."

"Well if you would just listen-" Eyes was no longer heard by the swordsman after he tapped the side of his helmet.

* * *

 **With Eyes**

"That son of a bitch cut me off didn't he!?" A feminine voice yelled. "That prick'll get a hell of an earful next time he turns that dumbass mask of his on." She grumbled, sitting back in her chair and crossing her arms.

* * *

 **Back with the Prick**

The swordsman slowly drew his sword with his right hand, the moonlight reflected off of it flawlessly, giving the impression of sparkling diamonds. He let himself slip off the edge of the building and quickly caught himself on the side. He bent his knees so that he looked to be squatting and propelled himself off the wall. He smashed through the window of the decrepit building sword first. He wasted no time and immediately went towards the thug closest to him. Before said thug could remove his gun from its holster the swordsman slashed at him, cutting deeply from the right hip to left shoulder, cutting off his forearm in the process and spraying out a torrent of blood. He screamed bloody murder but only had that luxury for a second longer before his life was ended by a stab to the heart.

"SHIT!" One of the other thugs yelled. "ITS THE VIGILANTE!" The two remaining in that room had their firearms in hand and began shooting in earnest. The Vigilante held his sword out in front of him and blocked the bullets as they came at him, all thirty of them. They were sweating bullets as they fumbled to replace their empty magazines, one however couldn't finish because the Vigilante threw his sword as if it were a javelin, impaling him through the brain and pinning him to the wall behind him. Before the remaining thug could get off any shots the Vigilante he ran up to him, reared his fist back and punched him in the gut so hard that, despite their significant size difference, he was raised up in the air and coughed up copious amounts of blood. The Vigilante reared his fist once more, the thug falling to his knees, and punched again, this time in the temple, killing him instantly.

He heard someone outside the door so he walked over to his sword, pressed his foot against the corpse and pulled out his weapon. He sprinted over to the door and crouched behind it. The door handle twitched as there was whispering on the other side. The door inched open and a woman peeked through, surveying the room. When she looked down her eyes widened in fear as she aimed her glock. The Vigilante, holding the hilt with both hands, didn't give her a chance to shoot and thrust forward her chest and through her heart. Withdrawing his sword quickly he slashed upward on his left, killing the man unfortunate enough to be standing there, and with the downward slash to his right he cut down the centre of the head of the thug standing there. Before his death though, that thug managed to shoot one bullet. That bullet hit the vigilante in the chest, right between the pectorals, and it would have killed him was it not for what he was wearing underneath. The bullet simply smoked for a couple of seconds before falling to the ground.

The Vigilante rubbed the spot where the bullet hit before running down the hallway. After turning a corner leading down a flight of stairs he tapped the side of his mask.

"Eyes? You there?" He said.

"You Prick!" Eyes yelled. The Vigilante winced under his mask. "If you ever cut me off again Matthew Raijūmura, I will find you, rip off your ball sack and FEED IT TO GLASGOW!" The now named Matthew nearly stumbled as he turned a corner, the volume of Eyes' voice increasing to a too high decibel for his keen ears to healthily tolerate.

"Shut the hell up will ya. The last thing I need is you shouting my goddamn ear off!" He retorted. "And don't say my name, we could be tapped right now."

"You seriously underestimate my skills you know. No one is hacking us, or tapping us, or filming us or whatever else you can think of. We are-" Matthew cut her off again with a tap to his helmet.

"I'm gonna hear about that later." He mumbled. He went up against the wall, peaked around the corner and saw two more people, armed with shotguns and guarding a door. He sheathed the sword and flexed his hands before placing his fingertips on the wall, followed by his feet. He climbed up onto the ceiling, his red fur hanging down. He crawled around the corner and stealthily made his way to the nearest guard. He was right next to him, the fur right next to his head.

"Ahem." Matthew said. The guard turned his head lazily, saw the fur and looked up. His eyes widened and before he could do anything else Matthew grabbed his head and twisted, breaking his neck and ending his life. The second guard was on alert and shot his gun. Matthew let himself fall and landed on all fours as the shot destroyed the ceiling he was just on. He then grabbed the hilt of his weapon and drew it. He then thrusted his sword upwards, up the man's jaw and out through his cranium. After pulling it out Matthew swished his sword to the side, blood coming off of it.

With a side kick Matthew had the door broken down. Inside were many upturned tables, the tops facing him. In between the gaps of each table were the barrels of firearms, a shotgun, a machine gun, and even a rifle. A red shot appeared on his forehead.

"FIRE!" A cascade of bullets fired at the Vigilante. He leapt to the side, behind the wall, to avoid being hit. He then leapt onto the ceiling and made himself as flat as possible. He saw the bullets go through the wall and destroy the floor, as well as the wall behind him. After a moment the firing stopped so Matthew took advantage of this opportunity and dropped to the floor and then jumped through the hole in the wall sword first. He impaled the table on the far right and heard an exclamation of pain, signifying that he hit his mark. Withdrawing his sword he slashed diagonally at the next one, killing the one holding the machine gun. Jumping over the tables Matthew saw the remaining man wielding the rifle. He has his eye at the sight and pulled the trigger. Matthew held his sword vertically in front of him, intercepting the bullet and bisecting it. Behind Matthew the ceiling was hit in two places.

The man on the ground was shaking, trembling even, as he looked directly into Matthews eyes through the mask.

"Please," He said, dropping the gun, desperation and fear in his voice. "don't kill me."

"Your boss sells human beings." Matthew said. "You help her. Why shouldn't I kill you? What value does your life have?" He then put the tip of his sword on the man's chest. The man looked at the sword, sweating bullets.

"Please." He sobbed. "I don't want to die."

"Those children didn't want to be sold!" He put force against the sword, stabbing through the man. He coughed up blood. Matthew pulled out the sword and after a less than a minute the man bled to death. He sheathed his sword and turned around. On the floor there was a trap door underneath the body of one of the men. He crouched down and shifted the body. He gripped the handled and, with some effort, pulled it open. It lead to a dark and dank staircase. He began to walk down and his feet, despite their cat like lightness, echoed with every step.

There was at least 150 steps in total, and when he reached the bottom there was a basement of sorts. Chained and on the ground were 4 unconscious girls, no older than 15 or 16. A man had his arm around one, also unconscious, girl's neck and a gun to her head.

"Drop the sword!" The man said. "Or she's dead!" Matthew slowly drew his sword. "I said DROP IT!" He did, directly downright so that it stuck into the ground. "And now the mask." Matthew gripped the sides of the helmet, discreetly tapping it do to get Eyes back on the line. He lifted and tilted his head forward as to have his snow white bangs cover his eyes. "Throw it forward!" He did so. "Look at me." Matthew held his head up high, his cobalt eyes set to a glare. He was clearly of Japanese heritage, with sharp features. "Ha, you're just a kid, no older than these whores!" He laughed. "To think a brat could cause so much fucking trouble!"

Suddenly the lights began flickering before bursting completely, sending sparks raining down. Matthew took complete advantage of the distraction, using his strong legs to pounce at the thug in less than a second. He made sure to grab the wrist of the hand holding the gun and the shoulder of the arm around the girl and then pulling both away from one another, dislocateing the shoulder and breaking the wrist. The man yelled out, his arms falling limp by his sides and the girl falling with a thud. Matthew took a fighting stance and began punching the man in the chest and face. The man was forced back into a wall and Matthew grabbed his collar with his left hand, and then began pounding his face with his right. After about 12 or 13 punches in quick secession the thugs face was naught but a bloody pulp. Matthew let go and the man fell with a thud.

Matthew retrieved his mask, putting it back on, and then pulled his sword from the ground and subsequently sheathing it. He turned to face the girls, all still bound and unconscious. He then turned his head to the corpse in the room, eyeing a ring of keys attached to his belt. He took the keys and released all of the girls' bindings. He turned and began walking up the stairs.

"Eyes?"

"Yes Prick?" She said with a melodic tone in her voice.

"Send the police to the building."

"Hm, already did, a couple minutes before the time I overloaded the circuitry of that building and busted the light." By the tone of her voice you could tell that she had a shit eating grin on her face.

"Shit!" Matthew exclaimed, breaking out into a sprint. He ran up the stairs, out of the room and down the hall. He jumped out of the nearest window and clung to the wall, and began to run up it. He could hear the sirens that were the telltale sign of the S.F.P.D. He once again began leaping from roof to roof, going in the same direction he came.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

Matthew made his way to the outskirts of San Fransokyo, where there resided smaller, more affordable housing. It was also the farthest from the S.F.P.D, so it made for a great headquarters for anyone who wanted to stay on the down low. He landed on the roof of a detached, two-story house. It was generic for that area but had a great view of the San Fransokyo Bridge. He then entered through a skylight that belonged to a bedroom, his bedroom to be exact.

He removed the helmet, placed it on his desk and ran a hand through his sweaty hair. He then pulled the sheathed sword from his back, placing it in front of his mask. He walked over to a door and opened it to reveal an en suite. He walked into the shower and turned on the hot water. The blood on his black suit simply ran down the drain along with the water, bypassing the need for a washing machine.

After he was certain the suit was clean he turned off the water and went back into the bedroom. He then peeled the top half of the suit from his torso, leaving it inside out and dropping it on the floor. He then dropped his pants and left them next to the top.

Around Matthew's abdomen, lower back and chest was a silvery metal, wafer thin but extremely dense. The metal was also around his forearms, upper arms, shins and thighs. This sheet metal was designed to mold exactly to fit his body, not impede his movements, act as armour and, primarily, slow him down. One of its main functions was to act as training weights that would leave his strength, speed and other things far superior when he removed them. He left them on at most times, only removing them when he was mostly inactive and when he needed to be particularly fast, which wasn't often, for both cases.

Matthew ran his finger down the centre of the metal and then held his arms out horizontally. The metal on his back split open and straightened out, allowing him to then peel it off his front.

"Much better." He said to himself, putting the metal on the ground and letting it lean against the wall. He removed the rest of the metal in a similar manner, piling the smaller pieces on the ground next to the larger one. He then began to stretch a little, working out the kinks in his lithe, toned body. He went over to his drawers and pulled out a pair of sweatpants. As he put them on he heard a knock on the door.

"Crap." He mumbled. "It's open." The door opened and a teenage girl entered, she was in a high tech wheel-chair that had a basketball sized sphere instead of wheels on it. The girl had electric pink hair with dark purple streaks, brown eyes and, like Matthew, was of Japanese descent. "Hey Momo." Matthew said nonchalantly. "So how are things?" Momo raised her arm, pointing her finger at Matthew, looking him dead in the eye. A few seconds of silence followed. She inhaled through her nose before declaring;

"Get 'im Glasgow!" A black and brown German Sheppard mix bolted into the room, pouncing at Matthew, knocking him to the ground and growing in his face. The dog then stopped growing and instead began to eagerly lick Matthew's face with his slobbery tongue. "AAAAWWWWW Glascooow," Momo moaned. "that's now how we rehearsed it! You were supposed to chomp his balls off." She folded her arms and began to pout.

"Haha," Matthew chuckled, sitting up. "you'll never turn this dog against me," he began to ruffle his hand behind Glasgow's ears. "he loves his master too much." Glasgow fell to floor and began wiggling, begging for his tummy to be rubbed. Matthew complied, using one hand to rub the mutt's belly and the other under his chin. Glasgow had mostly brown fur on his head, except for a spot of black on the top of his head and black fur around his his mouth and muzzle, which reached up to his ears, making it look like he had a Glasgow smile, hence the name 'Glasgow'. Matthew stood up, making Glasgow whine, and walked up to Momo.

"So anyway, did the police get the girls?" He asked.

"Yeah, they did. They'll be fine." She said. "Murphy is getting more brazen, taking so many girls at once, and such high profile ones too."

"Yeah," Matthew said, clenching his fists. "but we'll get 'em, and soon too. I'm not going to let more innocent people be taken!"

"Matt," Momo said, reaching out to grasp Matthew's shoulder. "that wasn't your fault. There's nothing you could've done." She said gently. Matt breathed in.

"I know," He said. "but that doesn't stop me from seeing their faces when I close my eyes."

"Matt," He turned away and walked next to his bed.

"I'm gonna try to sleep tonight, I've been getting really fatigued lately." He said.

"I'll get the medic-" Momo said before being interrupted.

"Don't bother, they don't do anything anyway."

"Okay." She submitted. "Glasgow, here boy."

"No it's fine," Matt said. "he can stay."

"...kay. Night Matt."

"G'night, Momo." The girl then wheeled to the door.

"Will I hit the light?"

"It's fine."

"Kay." She then left, closing the door on her way out. Matt stood on his bed and pulled the skylight closed before lying down on the single bed, against the wall.

"Glas." He said patting the bed. "Here boy." The dog happily jumped up next to the person he saw as his alpha. Glasgow circled the spot before lying down. The canine then snuggled up against Matthew and Matthew then draped an arm around the dog. "Sweet dreams." He mumbled, closing his eyes. "Hopefully."

* * *

 **EARLIER THAT NIGHT IN A SAN FRANSOKYO ALLEY**

There was a crowd of people standing around a ring. Two people with remote controls in their hands were sitting cross legged at either end of the circle. There were two small robots in the ring, one with a spring like design and the other was smaller, black and was comprised of three spheres atop each other and six cone like segments on it. It had a yellow smiley face. One of the contestants, on the side of the spring bot, was an extremely thin man in his mid twenties with a soul patch and pencil moustache. Opposite him was a boy in his early teens, with black hair and brown eyes.

"Begin!" A skantily clad attractive woman said. The spring bot sent one of its limbs, with a blade at the end, at the smaller bot. The boy made a feeble attempt at dodging but was hit in the middle sphere and separated into 3 parts. The crowd broke out into mocking laughter. The boy put on a look of devastation.

"C-can I try again?" He asked picking up and re-assembling the bot.

"Sorry kid," The referee said, not sounding very sorry at all. "no do-overs."

"I have more money!" He said, sounding hopeful and holding out a wad of cash. The ref looked at the man, who was in the middle of counting his winnings. The thought about it for a few seconds before shrugging and putting the money back in the bowl he got it from.

The two contestants put their bots back in the ring, the ref once again twirled her umbrella between the two and announced;

"Begin!" The boy pulled his remote, widening it and revealing many more intricate controls and buttons. He then got a sly grin on his face.

"Megabot, destroy!" The smiley face of the small boy swiveled to reveal a red devilish face. The man's spring bot propelled a limb forward, Megabot dodging with an easy cartweel to the side. The spring bot hastily used its other limb to attack. It was again avoided easily. Megabot began cartweeling around the edge of the ring, the spring bot rapidly sending its limbs at it resulting in many holes on the ring floor. Megabot stopped cartweeling and split into 3 segments. All three pieces then began moving in an unpredictable manner towards the spring bot, said bot then extended its left spring like leg to move to the right. Megabot wasn't deterred in the slightest and quickly caught up to Springbot. Springbot sent both of its limbs at a single part of Megabot, impaling the ground right in front of it. The segment jumped onto the limbs and began rolling to the head of Springbot.

While that was happening the two remaining segments rolled up the sides of Springbot and wrapped around the limbs. They then twisted around the joints, making the limbs fall off. The main segment had jumped onto the head as the limbs fell and wrapped around it. The two other segments joined the main one in wrapping around the head. The three squeezed together, crushing the head of Springbot and winning the fight.

Megabot re-assembled and cartweeled over to its controller. It gave a bow to Springbot and its controller, whose mouth was agape.

"Everybody," The referee announced. "Pierre has been defeated!" The cross crowd cheated cheered. The ref then walked over to the boy and lifted the lid off of the bowl, letting him take his, questionably earned, winnings.

"A-a-a-a-ow?" The owner of Springbot stuttered disbelievingly, clearly French by his accent.

"Well I'm just as surprised as you are." The boy said as he pocketed the money. "Beginners luck I guess. But hey, no hard feelings Pi-erre?" The boy double-taked, he looked up to see Pierre standing above him, obviously pissed and flanked by two equally pissed looking goons. The crowd went silent.

"You ustled me you little shit!" Pierre said. His goons cracked their knuckles as they advanced on the boy.

"Now now," He chuckled nervously as he walked backwards. "watch your French." He stumbled back into a wall. Pierre only growled at that comment. One of the goons reared back his fist, ready to do the boy in. However he stopped when he felt a blade at his neck. The referee was standing there, closed umbrella in hand, pointed at the large man's neck. At the end of the umbrella was a four inch long blade, previously concealed within the umbrella itself.

"There isn't going to be any of that here while I'm ref!" She said, her tone revealing that she was completely serious. Pierre grit his teeth and glared at her. She glared back, just as, if not more so, intimidating.

"Leave him!" He spat, obviously not happy about it. They did, and the boy enjoyed a sigh of relief. Pierre and his goons sauntered away, out of the alley with all eyes on them. The boy a couple steps towards the ref.

"Hey, thanks for-" The ref pointed her blade at the boy, only a couple mere inches from his throat. "-that." He squeaked.

"Hustling isn't appreciated around here boy." She said. "You can take what you've won tonight but I'd best not see you here again. If I do I might not stop them next time, capiche?" The boy couldn't nod quick enough, though he was careful not to hit the blade with his chin.

"Good." She said, bringing the blade to her side and digging it into the ground. It easily sliced into the concrete. "Now get out of-" She was interrupted by the incoming sound of police sirens.

"Shit!" She exclaimed. "Everybody vamoose!" The crowd did so, every person trying to find a way out, either by running out of the alley or climbing onto the roofs via fire escape.

The boy opted to run for it. When he exited the alley he turned left, along with a dozen others. He then decided to run into another alley when he heard the cops tailing them, no-one else decided to do so. He ducked behind a dumpster and held his breath as the police cars passed right by him. He sighed in relief once again, thinking he was in the clear. He stood again and peered out the alley, up the street to where the cop cars had gone. All he saw was a group of confused looking bot fighters, none in hand cuffs or even remotely detained by the men in blue.

'Huh,' He thought. 'they must not have been after us.' He shrugged and was about to walk away before he was pulled back by his hoodie. Suddenly he was face to face with one of the goons that were going to pummel him not two minutes ago.

"Crap." He said. He was then shoved up against a wall, pinned there by his upper arms.

"Crap is right little shit." Pierre said from behind his henchmen.

"Oh hey Pierre." The boy nervously. "Long time no see." Pierre only narrowed his eyes at the sarcasm. "How 'bout we go catch up over a cup of coffee." He said with a nervous smile. Pierre didn't look impressed. The Frenchman then raised his hand and snapped his fingers. With that snap the boy had the wind knocked out of him with a vicious punch to his abdomen, then another, and then another. Both Megabot and the remote fell from his grasp. He was then granted a moments retrieve.

"I did not say stop!" Pierre spat. The boy felt his jaw take a painful hit. He could then feel a taste of copper in his mouth.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

The boy limped down the street, his face bruised, two black eyes, blood running down the side of his mouth, out his nose and from a gash on his hairline. He had more bruises under his clothes, especially on his ribs and upper arms. His hoodie was torn on the inside. That happened when all of his money was taken from him. In his hands he only had Megabot and what was left of the controller.

He limped to the only building with turned on lights on his street, a three story building with a sign reading 'The Lucky Cat Café' out front. With one hand he weakly turned the door knob and entered. He heard the jingle that came when opening the door and closed it, not bothering to be discreet as anybody there would know that he's there by now.

"Hiro!" Somebody yelled, making him jump slightly. Said person made her way from behind the counter over to the boy. She gasped at seeing the state he was in. "Hiro." She said again, this time in a more gentle tone.

"Hey Aunt Cass." He said with little energy, the small sentence making a drop of blood fall from his mouth. The woman suddenly got a stern look on her face.

"Get that butt of yours upstairs now young man! Wait in the kitchen for me while I call your brother! He's been scowering the city for hours looking for you." Hiro hung his head in shame, obeying his Aunt and limped up the stairs.

Cass' stern face fell into one of remorse. She took out her cell phone and speed dialled her eldest nephew. After having to wait barely there seconds there was an answer.

"Tadashi, he's here." She said. "No he's really beat up. I don't know how. Well I assume he pissed someone off!" She said in an exasperated tone as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Just get back here so we can deal with him together. Okay, six minutes. I'll start treating his bruises. She hung up and sighed and then proceeded to walk up to the second floor of the building to deal with her youngest nephew.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

He saw snow, nothing but white, vast and cold snow. It began to bleed out around his ankles. A child's scream threw him into nothingness.

Nothing but darkness. People, screaming and in fear, in pain. Screaming at him to help them. He tried running but he wasn't moving at all. They were moving away, farther and farther until they disappeared into the distance. He heard maniacal laughter behind him. He turned, a dark, macabre figure still laughing at him. A ring of fire encircled them, cutting him off from those who needed him. He blinked and he was back in the snow. In a flash another figure was before him it was small and childlike. He reached out to it but it grabbed his wrist in an unbreakable grip. He tried to escape, but it was as if his blood was frozen solid. The figure morphed into a much taller, much more intimidating creature that towered over him. It raised its fist high above its head and smashed it down.

Matthew snapped awake, drenched in sweat and panting heavily. He looked around with wide eyes, calming at the familiar environment. Glasgow was at his side, ears drooped and making a whining sound. He moved onto Matthew's lap and began licking his chin in an attempt to help calm his master. It helped Matthew, more than the dog could ever know. He smiled and began to rub Glascow's ears. Matthew lay down again and as soon as his head hit the pillow he felt Glascow's weight on his bare chest.

He traced the long scar on his front, starting on the inside of his left pectoral, trailing down passed his left hip and to the outside of his thigh. He sighed and pushed Glasgow of his chest, the dog already out cold again.

He swung his legs over the side of the bed and held his head in his hands. He looked out the skylight and judged by the light out that he slept for a maximum of two uneasy hours. He then looked at the clock on the wall.

'4:23,' He thought. 'Perfect.'

He stood again and dropped his sweat pants, followed by his boxers. He then walked over to his chest of drawers, opened the bottom drawer and pulled out a towel. He wrapped it around his waist and walked into the en suite. He dropped the towel and walked into the shower, he then turned on the hot water to a scalding temperature and winced slightly when it hit his skin. Steam filled the room, clouding the window and mirror as it went into the bedroom.

Matthew continued to stand under the too hot water, his skin turning bright red. He didn't care because he disliked cold of any kind. He looked down at his toned body, retelling the story of every scar he saw. He had a few minor ones that were mostly faded scattered around his entire body, the ones worth really noting were the larger ones that held greater meaning. He again touched the one going down his front.

"Murphy." He spat. "Jackson!" Just thinking about those names enraged him to the point where he thought he'd explode. After a few more minutes he decided he was clean enough.

He turned off the water, stepped out of the shower, picked up the towel and started to roughly dry his red skin.

* * *

 **That's the first chapter done, I hope I have interested some of you to follow it. If you've read this and are wondering when the next chapter of my first story is coming out, I should have it out by next week.**

 **If anyone was put off by the violence in this chapter just know: it is not going to be regular, there are going to be many happy fluffy moments in the future.**

 **'tis all for now,**

 **I bid you adieu.**


	2. The Bodyguard

**Published: 25th September 2015**

 **I forgot to say this at the end of the last chapter: Tou-san is Japanese for father, for those who didn't know. I haven't much else to say except thank you to those who followed my story.**

* * *

 **Chapter Two: The Bodyguard**

* * *

It was 3 days dine since Hiro had come home battered and bruised. Tadashi Hamada sat the kitchen table of the apartment above his aunt's cafe, from which he could hear the hustle and bustle of business. He was eating scrambled eggs on toast, simple but great. Although, if you were to look at him you'd think that his breakfast was very questionable. He had a look of concentration and, somewhat, of worry on his face. That was due to the dubious activities of his little brother a few nights ago as well what he was watching right now. He was watching the television, the news to be exact and was very concerned about the goings on in his city.

 _"In other news,"_ The news anchor said. _"the vigilante has struck once again, preventing the selling of 5 young San Fransokian girls by the notorious criminal gang, 'Murphy's Law'."_ She then turned in her seat to the person she was about to speak with. _"Joining us this morning is Commissioner Hayate Asegawa, head of the San Fransokyo Police Department."_ She turned to face the commissioner completely. He was a black, burly man in his early forties, with greying hair, cold brown eyes and a crescent shaped scar just behind right temple. _"Commissioner, what do you make of the vigilante? Do you think that's he's a force for good, or a menace that needs to be stopped?"_

 _"Well Ms. Gavin,"_ The commissioner said, a deep, sonorous voice emitting from his lips. _"I believe that this vigilante is a person who is despicable in the truest sense of the word. Just a moment ago when you mentioned how he saved girls from Murphy's Law, I noticed that you left out the fact that he killed 12 people to do so."_

 _"Yes I was aware."_ Ms. Gavin said. _"They were members of Murphy's Law, were they not?"_

 _"They were, but that does not make them any less human."_ Asegawa said. _"I hope that you are not trying to condone murder. Be they criminals or not, no-one has the right to go above the law and kill as they see fit! Such a system would make society and justice collapse in on itself."_

 _"Of course container Commissioner, I agree with you of course,"_ She almost sounded insulted. _"murder of such scale couldn't be justified. However the fact remains that he saved people last night, good, respectable, decent people. Do you think-"_ Tadashi switched the tv off with the remote.

He buried his face in his hands and sighed. He shook his head free of his current train of thought, put his plate on the draining board adjacent to the sink and then went up the stairs to his and his brother's shared bedroom. He opened the door and quietly walked over to his brother's bedside.

"Hiro?" He whispered. "Hiro?" He said again, this time at normal volume. After confirming his little brother was still sleeping he walked silently to the boy's closet. He pulled out one of the many hoodies and began to inspect it. He felt around the base of the hood, running his fingers along it.

"Dammit!" He cursed, louder than he had intended. He winced and slowly peeked over his shoulder, thankfully seeing that Hiro was still slumbering. He then put the hoodie he was holding back in the closet and removed another. He checked the base of the hood for that one as well. It gave a similar reaction to the last one but a few decibels lower. He repeated the process for over a dozen different hoodies, each one further confirming what Tadashi feared.

"He took them out!" He mumbled to himself, hitting his forehead on the closet door. He was of course referring to the tracking devices he had hidden within Hiro's hoodies.

"Yeah, I did." A raspy voice behind him said. Tadashi quickly turned on his heel to see his little brother sitting up on his bed. His bruises were showing signs of healing, his eyes were still black and he had bandages around his head.

"Hiro." Tadashi said, putting a look of anger on his face. "Why did you remove them!?"

"Why did you put them there?" Hiro responded, narrowing his eyes as much as he could without hurting himself.

"So that this" Tadashi gestured in Hiro's general direction. "wouldn't happen!"

"I never asked for your help!" Hiro said stubbornly. He crossed his arms and leaned back against his headboard. "I don't need you."

Tadashi scoffed. "Try saying that when you don't have two black eyes."

"Hm!" Hiro...hmed, lying down again and pulling the covers to his neck, facing away from Tadashi. The elder brother walked over to the younger's bed and sat on it.

"Hiro," Tadashi said with a gentler voice. "it really hurts me and aunt Cass to see you like this." He put a hand on Hiro's shoulder and looked at the back of his head. "We were worried sick, not knowing where you were, not knowing if you were okay. Aunt Cass is nearly out of inventory with how you're causing her to stress eat. This has to stop." He slightly tightened his grip on Hiro's shoulder. "Please, answer me."

"..." No answer. Tadashi sighed.

"I'll talk to you later, otouto **(Little Brother)**." He then left the room.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

Tadashi was in his laboratory, sitting at his computer and typing vigorously, uploading many thousand lines of code onto a very special card. He swiveled in his chair and before him was what looked like a giant, white, humanoid balloon. He picked up a clapper board and wrote the number 69 on it. He then removed the green rectangular card from the side of the monitor. On the card was his name and a caricature of doctors head. He tapped a circle on the left side of the balloon's chest. It opened and he put the chip inside the port.

"Here goes nothing." He held the clapper board in front of him. "Ow." The eyes of the balloon opened and Tadashi said;

"This is Tadashi Hamada and this is the 69th test of my robotics project." The balloon began to speak.

"H-h-h-hello I-I-I-I-I-I-I am B-b-b-baymax, you-you-your per-pers-personal-" The machine suddenly sparked and powered down. Tadashi recoiled, crossing his arms in front of his face to block the sparks.

"AAAHHHHHH!" He moaned, burying his face into Baymax's soft exterior. "Why won't you work!?" He removed himself from the machine and looked at his watch. "Time for lunch I suppose." He mumbled, not sounding very enthused about the prospect of food. He began to walk towards the door of his lab. "See ya later big guy."

Tadashi met up with his friends in the cafeteria for lunch. They all exchanged casual banter until it was noticed that Tadashi was contributing less than he usually did.

"Hey Hamada," Gogo, a girl of Korean descent with black hair, a purple streak and fit figure said. "what's got you all broody?" Tadashi shot a bland glare at her.

"I'm not broody, Gogo." Tadashi said. She raised an eyebrow that said 'yeah right, you ain't fooling me, or anyone else here'.

"I'm serious!" He said, sounding disbelieving at the insinuation.

"Come on Tadashi," Fred, a slim, caucasian young man with light brown hair and a beanie hat said. "if Gogo, the most emotionally challenged of everyone here can see you're down what makes you think you can hide it from the rest of us?" That comment earned him a sharp jab in the shoulder from Gogo.

"I think what Fred means to say is that we're your friends, and that whatever is bothering you, you can share with us." Honey Lemon, a tall lanky blonde girl with a tan and slight Latino accent said. "Right guys?" She looked around at the others for confirmation. She got a round of nods, even from Fred, who was nursing a possibly dislocated shoulder.

"She's right dude, it ain't good to keep things to yourself like this." Wasabi said. He was a broad shouldered, black young man with smooth dreadlocks and a short beard. Tadashi sighed again.

"Fine! I'll tell you." He said, giving in, though he didn't sound very pleased about it. "It's Hiro."

"Your kid brother?" Gogo interjected.

"Yeah, him. He's addicted to bot fighting, he sneaks out most nights to go participate in illegal underground gambling." So far his talk had gotten him looks of concern and curiosity. "He'd hustle the more experienced players, throwing a match to raise the bet and cheat them out of more money. I'd always get to him before he got hurt, that is, until three nights ago." The group had looks of worry on their faces, especially Honey Lemon. "You see. I'd always get to him because I put trackers in his hoodies, but he found them, removed them, and destroyed them. I spent hours looking for him all over San Fransokyo." He put his elbows on the table and buried his face into his hands. "He came home beaten, bruised and bleeding, obviously after pissing someone off enough to warrant that beating." Tadashi looked ready to have a mental breakdown. Wasabi put a comforting hand on his back. "He's gonna get back out there and get hurt again, and there's nothing I can do to protect him!"

"Why don't you go with him?" Honey Lemon asked, trying her best to sound supportive.

"I can't, I don't know when he sneaks out. Even so, if I begin to go with him he'll wait to sneak out when I'm asleep, or when I'm pulling all nighters here. Besides he knows the streets better than I do, he'll get away from me in less than five minutes."

"What about an alarm system?" Wasabi offered.

"Any technology I put in Hiro's way he'll find a way around, the kid's a robotics genius."

"What if you hire a body guard?" Gogo asked. Tadashi looked up at her, thinking about it before shaking it off.

"Where can I find someone to tail Hiro every time I realize he's gone, who also can take care themselves and Hiro while out there?" Tadashi asked rhetorically. Gogo however, got a thoughtful look on her face, before looking up and giving a sight smile.

"I know a guy who owes me a favour," She attracted the gaze of everyone at the table. "and he definitely knows how to take care of himself in a fight."

"Who?" Tadashi asked, not sounding convinced but not dismissing the idea.

"I'll see you guys later." Gogo said, standing up and walking away.

"This isn't going to end well, is it?" Tadashi deadpanned.

"If history is anything to go by, then no definitely, absolutely not!" Fred exclaimed.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

Momo was sitting under a tree, book in hand, on the campus of the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology. Her wheelchair was beside her.

"Hey, wheels?" Someone said to her. She looked up and saw Gogo standing there, hands on hips and chewing gum.

"Oh, hello there Ethel dear." She said with an overly sweet tone, dog earing the book and closing it.

"Don't call me that!" She snapped. "It's Gogo." She said in a calmer manner, folding her arms.

"Yeah, of course. So what do you want?" She dropped the sweet tone and adopted a more casual demeanour.

"You and your friend owe me a favour, and I want to cash in." Gogo said.

"*sigh*, whadda ya need?" Momo asked, though she knew for a long time this was coming and was actually happy to comply.

"My friend needs Matt's...physical expertise, to act as a body guard for his younger brother." Momo raised an eyebrow. "Speaking of which, is he around here?"

"Nah he's on the other side of campus, probably be pulling an all nighter tonight." Momo then pressed a button on the watch on her left wrist, making the wheelchair roll right next to her. She put one hand on the arm of the chair and lifted herself up into it with very little effort. "So why does this kid need a body guard anyway?" Momo then went off the grass and began rolling along the path to main building of the university, Gogo walking alongside her.

"He participates in illegal underground gambling, often irritating the wrong people. You know where that can lead a person."

"That I do. So who is this friend that Matthew's doing a favour for?"

"Tadashi, Tadashi Hamada." Gogo answered.

"Ah Tadashi, I've heard that name around campus quite a bit. Smart guy, which to be honest isn't saying much when you're here of all places." She gestured around the area in all directions. "Also I hear he's quite a looker." She raised a suggestive eyebrow at Gogo.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gogo asked, sounding abashed.

"Oh, nothing of significance." She donned a cheeky grin and an arrogant glint in her eye. "Anyway you have my number, call me when Matt's needed to guard this kid, I'll send him his way."

"Thanks," Gogo said. "it's appreciated."

"I should tell you one thing though," Momo said, suddenly gaining a serious demeanour. "we're getting closer to crippling you-know-who's network in the city, that takes priority over all else, no matter how great our debt may be to you. Understand?"

"Yeah, I understand." Gogo said, blowing a bubble with her gum. "I'm gonna head back to my lab, they'll be missing me." She began walking a path diverging to the right.

"Suuure they will." Momo gave a light chuckle. "I'll give Matt your love."

"Whatever." Gogo waved her hand behind her in a nonchalant manner.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

Gogo, having spent enough time looking Momo or Matt to miss the rest of lunch went straight to the robotics lab to join her friends and many others.

"Hey Wasabi?" She asked after waking through the door. "Where Tadashi?"

"Where else?" He asked rhetorically while straightening out a cart-top of tools. "In his room working on his project."

"Thanks." She said to the man as she walked to Tadashi's own lab. She knocked and opened the door. "Hey Ham-a-da?" She got a confused look on her face as she observed the scene before her. Tadashi was on the ground, being glomped by a large inflatable white balloon man that was thrashing in an attempt to remove its appendages from Tadashi's grip.

"Oh hey Gogo." He says, flipping the position so that he was straddling the balloon man. "Just give me a sec." He tapped the port on Baymax's chest to open it and remove the green chip. Baymax immediately ceased all movement and began to deflate. Tadashi stood, panting, and placed the chip next to his computer. He then turned and walked in front of the girl. "So what made you disappear?"

"I was locating a bodyguard for your kid brother, and found one." She folded her arms.

"...did you hire a mercenary of some kind?" Tadashi asked skeptically. Gogo glared at him.

"No!" She said, sounding insulted and shooting a glare at Tadashi. "It's like I said, I guy owed me favour and this is him repaying that debt. It'll cost no-one nothing."

"Look Gogo, it's not that I'm ungrateful," He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "but I wanted to stop Hiro from not fighting altogether, not give him more incentive to do it." Gogo grabbed Tadashi's collar and pulled him to her eye level.

"You said it yourself that you can't stop your brother from going out and fighting, at least this way there's no possibility of him getting hurt. Take it or leave it!" She released Tadashi from her vice-like grip. He sighed.

"Okay, fine." He straightened out his shirt and vest. "So how does this work? Do I call him to tell him tail Hiro or what?"

"I'll give you the number to get ahold of him." She said. "From there you can sort it out between yourselves I've done my part." She took from her pocket a piece paper reading: (415) 289-3000.

"This is the guy's number?" Tadashi asked, taking it from Gogo.

"No, it's his friend's. She's the more talkative of the two."

"Thanks Gogo, this really helps me be less stressed about the whole thing."

"No problem." She turned and began to walk for out the door. Tadashi read the number again, mesmerising it quickly before pocketing it and getting back to working on Baymax.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

"Oh Mattheeeeew?" Momo called joyfully, rolling through a door into a room, a lab, which was large considering it was only being used by one person. The walls were covered in diagrams of the human body, the nervous system, suits of thin body armour and of the circulatory system. As well as that there were many mannequins set up, some partly covered while others adorned complete body suits. In both cases wires were coming from the apparel, each leading to a circular metal band that looked to go around one's head. Matthew was standing on the other end of the room in front of a holographic computer screen.

"Yes Momo?" He said with a bored tone, not bothering to turn around.

"I've got a job for yooou!" She said just as joyously as before.

"Oh really? Can't wait." He didn't sound interested at all.

"Oh come on." She went right up behind him and began poking him in the back. "It's gonna be fun."

"Uh-huh."

"Seriously though, this is us paying back Ethel, we have no choice." She said, dropping the overly cheerful attitude.

"Ugh!" Matthew said, throwing his head back. "Well I guess now we'll be even." He ran his hands through his hair. He then walked over to his chair and swiveled to face Momo. "Well Princess, what is it you've shanghaied me into doing?"

"Bodyguard detail," She said. "for a bot fighter with a bad attitude."

"Oh joy." Matt said, sarcasm oozing from his words. He sighed. "When and where?"

"Unknown and even more unknown."

"Will this interfere with our perusal of Murphy?"

"Hopefully not, though I made point if saying that that takes priority." Momo then went over to what Matt was working on. "Looks interesting." She commented. "Wait!?" She began to look at the hologram much more closely. Matt's eyes widened and he rushed at the hologram, running his hands across the screen to clear it.

"Was that...?" She asked, glaring at Matthew while pointing a pissed finger at the blank hologram.

"It wasn't!" Matt said. She slowly moved her hand to point directly at Matt's chest.

"You better not be doing what I think you're doing," She said. "That is a cause long lost." She jabbed Matt in the chest. "Comprende?"

"Look I was just using it for comparisons." He said calmly. comparisons She shot him a glare that said: 'You better be you fucker'.

"Anyway, we'll be let know when you have to guard the kid." She leaned back in her chair and sighed. "You really need to open a window or something in this room. It's too dark!" She said in an exaggerated voice.

"Whatever." Matt said, turning away from Momo. "I've work to be doing, as do you."

"Right!" She said, pounding her palm with her fist. "I'll leave you to your doo-dads." She turned and began wheeling out of the the room. "Bye-bye."

"See ya." He said under his breath. He brought up what he was looking at before. He sighed once again, looking at the human scan in front of him. It was of a teenage female and highlighted the nervous system with a bright blue glow. The odd thing about it though was that the glow for the nervous system below the waist was gone. If someone who knew even a little about the nervous system saw it, they'd be able to tell you that that person was paralyzed from the waist down.

"Soon." Matthew mumbled. "I'll give back what I took from you."

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

Tadashi walked through the door of the Lucky Cat Café. It was late at night, so the café had closed and his aunt had gone to bed. He tip-toed up the stairs to his and Hiro's shared bedroom. It was dark so he flipped the light switch as quietly as he could. Looking over at his brother's bed he could see the slight movement of the rise and fall of Hiro's chest, as well as the the gentle sound of his breathing.

He walked quietly to Hiro's bedside and keeled next to him. He brushed his bangs out of his face to properly see the swelling around his eyes, as well as other bruises. It broke his heart to see his brother in such a state, but now it wouldn't happen again, thanks to Gogo and her mystery friend. He ghosted a kiss on Hiro's forehead and then drew the covers up to his neck.

Tadashi walked over to his own bed and pulled the dividing screens closed. He then stripped down to his underwear, throwing his discarded clothing lazily at the wash basket, and lay down in his bed, nearly falling asleep as soon as he hit the pillow.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

Matthew, at 3:43 a.m, was still in his lab. He, on his right arm, was wearing a glove that went up to his elbow. It was made of black cloth, with metal rings an inch wide going up the arm, smaller rings going up the fingers and 3 blue wires coming from each ring. The wires went to a small black box about 6 inches on length, 4 inches in width, and 1.5 inchs in height. On top of the box were three 1 inch circles next to each other. Currently those three circles were glowing red. The wires from the glove went in one end, coming out of the other end were green wires, these ones leading to a metal band going around the teen's head.

With his unoccupied hand Matthew reached over to a white medical box with a red '+' on it. He opened it and pulled out a syringe with a dark green liquid in it. He then brought the needle to the crux of his arm. Inserting it carefully into a vein he pushed down on the syringe, letting the liquid flow into his arm. He then withdrew the needle, got an alcohol soaked cotton ball and held it against the drop of blood coming from the joint.

Within a minute Matthew began to feel his arm go numb, the intended effect of the liquid. He put the cotton ball next to the syringe and then pushed a button on the box, making one of the lights turn blue. He then closed his eyes in concentration, making a second light turn blue. His hand began to twitch and spasm, eventually making a fist, an action that made the third light now glow blue. Matthew opened his eyes and looked intently at his arm. Said limb raised, reaching out to grab a small metal cylinder. It grabbed the cylinder and began to slowly squeeze it. The solid piece of metal began to succumb to the pressure it was being put under. When Matthew released the metal, his hand still spasming, the cylinder was now squashed as if it was an aluminium can, but it wasn't, it was a brick of steel.

Matthew deactivated the box, making his arm go limp again. He slowly pulled the glove off of his hand, being careful not to tangle the wires. He removed the band around his head as well. He examined his still numb right arm, taking note of every bruise on his hand caused by the pressure of the squeeze. The bruises were where the metal rings were on the glove.

"Still quite a ways off." He mumbled. He then began to get feeling back in his arm, wincing slightly at finally feeling the bruises.

He sat on his chair and brought up a screen on the computer. He opened a file and began to add information onto a document. After nearly ten minutes of typing he sat back on his chair, wanting nothing more than to be able to sleep, but he couldn't, not if he wanted to not see the icy tundra again. No, he'd rather stay up and drink coffee, despite despising the stuff. He pulled the wires out of the box, both sets, and brought the glove and headband to a mannequin. The mannequin already had one glove and shorts on it, but no headband.

After putting the things away he walked over to another mannequin, this one had a full body one-piece suit. It had wires visible under the fabric and all of them, a dozen to be exact, came out of the coccyx. A circle was visible on the chest and it could be seen by the outlines that the wires were leading to it. He hefted the mannequin over his shoulder and brought it to his work station. Taking out an adaptor Matthew plugged all of the wires into it, and then hooked the adaptor up to the computer.

Before he could start up anything his phone rang. He reached over next to his keyboard, picked it up and looked at it. Seeing that it was Momo, either with something very important or very stupid, he answered quickly.

"Yeah?" He answered.

"Hello to you too. A group of thugs from Murphy's Law decided to take a break from human trafficking and steal a shipment of medicinal marijuana."

"And by shipment you mean?" He asked, beginning to take off his long-sleeved shirt and jeans.

"From the motherland across the Pacific." She said. "It's already landed in the docks and was in the process of being distributed to the western states. However they got their hands on 30% of the stuff by intercepting the delivery vehicles leaving San Fransokyo bay."

"What about the rest?" He put his phone between his cheek and shoulder as he began to pull a box out from underneath his desk.

"Air and rail. The trucks are going to Oregon and Nevada, the rest are going further inland." She answered.

"By the way," He asked. "when did Japan become a major pot provider?" He was now pulling out a black suit, followed by a sheath, from the box, as well as his helmet/mask.

"Since 2027, they managed to completely isolate and improve upon the compound in the drug that helped treat cancer. Now are we gonna sit here and ponder the history of pot or are you gonna haul ass and get it back!?"

"No need to be so pushy Momo, I'm practically ready." He ran his finger down the middle of the metal on his chest. "I need to go faster than usual for this right?"

"Yeah, you have quite a bit of ground to cover before they get too far. That means no weights for you tonight."

"Good, it's a pain to put back on." He finished taking off the rest of the weights. He then put the lot behind a mannequin in the corner. "I'm gonna hang up, talk to me through mask #4 in sixty seconds." He hung up, put the phone on his desk and pulled on the pants of the suit, followed by the top, then the boots, and finally the gloves. Reaching back into the box he pulled out a rectangular black case. Putting it on the floor and opening it up, the contents were revealed to be four 6 inch blades, a duel-hourglass guard and a black hilt wrapped in red cloth. He picked up the hilt and then the guard, placing it on top of the hilt and then proceeding to slam his hand onto it. With a satisfying click the guard was in place. He then picked up one of the blades and did the same thing as with the guard. Another click sounded security of the blade so he repeated the process with the other blades. He was careful with the last one, making sure not to stab his own hand.

He put blade in the sheath and then attached the weapon to his back. He picked up helmet and put it on quickly tapping the side to get Eyes on the line.

"You there?" He asked.

"Of course. Is the door locked?"

"No." Matthew went over to the door and swiftly locked it. "Now it is."

"Good, now get moving, there are 7 trucks in San Fransokyo right now. I've hacked the schools security system and am replaying earlier footage. You have about 3 minutes before they'd notice something."

"That's enough." He went over to the wall adjacent to his computer. There was a detailed poster of the nervous system there. He gripped the bottom of it and pulled it up, revealing a window. He raised the window, climbed out, sat on the sill and let the window fall closed. He then let himself fall from the two story window and landed on the ground in a soundless crouch. He took off sprinting, making it off the grounds of S.F.I.T in seconds. He leapt at a building and began running up the side. After getting onto the roof he jumped onto the next one, jumping high and landing on the next building. When he touched down a spider-web crack formed where his foot landed. Using the force of his leg he propelled himself high enough to land perfectly on the roof of the next building, which was far taller.

"Where's the closest truck?" He asked.

"7 blocks north-northeast, northeast, south-northeast, east." She answered.

"I get it!" He changed his direction, though he was running so fast that he has to slam his left leg into the roof floor in order to cancel out his momentum. He began going from roof to roof again. "What does it look like?"

"It's an chrome, 18-wheeler truck with the kanji **(Japanese Characters)** for 'Health from the Earth' on the side. You can intercept it at Wendy's."

"Got it!" Matthew was looking at Wendy's within a minute. He looked over his shoulder and saw the truck coming.

"Aren't the police on this?" Matthew asked.

"They are, but there are at least two dozen identical trucks collecting various imports from that one shipment. I hacked into the company's system to know which trucks to go after, when I did I found minute traces of another intruder. I'm guessing Murphy's hacked them too in order to know when and what to steal."

"You have them all though right?"

"Of course I do! When do I not have all of this info? Never that's when!" Matthew tuned Eyes out as the truck stopped at a red light.

 _'This is gonna be a long night.'_ He thought.

* * *

 **That's it for this chapter, I'm probably gonna have Matthew and Hiro meet up next chapter. Maybe.**

 **The next chapter will take a while to get out because I have my first story to update, as well as soul crushing amounts of homework.**

 **If anyone has any questions that I can answer without spoilers then you can PM or review me, whichever you prefer.**

 **I bid you adieu.**


	3. The First Night

**Published: 18th of October 2015**

 **I would like to thank all for the wait on the chapter, there have just been various factors keeping me from writing too often. I have another story to write as well a very busy school year, the work is literally soul crushing. FUCK YOU HIGHER LEVEL MATHS! Anyway, I digress.**

 **I thank all that reviewed for the positive feedback, it helps me to write more. Cookies, cookies for everyone! What? No cookies? Oh...fanfiction, fanfiction for everyone!**

 **On with the story.**

* * *

 _ **Summary of last chapter:**_ _3 days later Tadashi figures out the reason he couldn't find Hiro was because the prodigy found and removed the tracking devices Tadashi put in his hoodies. On the news we see that the police commissioner Hayate Asegawa has great contempt for the vigilante._

 _At S.F.I.T Tadashi confides in his friends that he doesn't know what to do with Hiro. Gogo suggests a bodyguard, which Tadashi is sceptical of. She goes and finds Momo, and asks her, and Matthew, to repay a debt to her. The nature of the debt is unknown. She agrees to get Matthew on the job but states that locating Murphy takes priority over all else._

 _While telling Matthew about the bodyguard duty Momo noticed Matthew was observing a hologram of her own botched nervous system. He states that it was just for comparisons. She accepts the answer and soon leaves._

 _Later that night, while he's working on his project, Momo calls Matthew and informs him of a stolen medicinal marijuana shipment from Japan, by Murphy's law. He foregoes his weights to catch catch every truck and heads out into the night._

* * *

 **Chapter 3: The First Night**

* * *

 **5 Days Later**

It was late in the evening, Momo and Matt were sitting at their kitchen table with dinner in front of them, it was just Chinese takeout though. Matt brought a chopstick full rice to mouth, barely paying attention to what Momo was saying.

"And then that bitch Gabi called Vika a whale and then all hell broke loose. I mean, I've seen my fair share of bloodshed, thanks to you, but I thought we were gonna have a situation worthy of Vlad the Impaler on our hands." Momo said.

"Uh-huh." Matthew mumbled with a mouthful of pork, looking at the extremely interesting fruit bowl.

"And then you're not even listening to me are you?"

"Uh huh." Momo didn't appreciate being ignored.

"I'm gonna get a tattoo of Spongebob Squarepants on my butt, care to weigh in?"

"Uh huh."

"How about 3 piercings, one for each of my nipples and one somewhere else." She said with a sly, somewhat seductive tone.

"Uh huh."

"Matthew I have a lesbian harem!" She said with more vigour.

"Uh huh." He said with his lazy tone. She picked up a pea and flicked it at Matt's forehead. His instincts kicked in and he caught the vegetable with his chopsticks.

"What?" He said, sounding annoyed.

"Now that I have your oh so valuable attention," she said with mock humility. "why aren't you listening to my drama?"

"I don't think the misadventures of fictional characters on a preteen girl television show counts as your personal drama." He said, bringing another piece of pork to his lips.

"Bitch you don't know me!" She said, pointing her chopsticks at Matt.

"I know you well enough to know that you should never that again." He caught another pea with his chopsticks without looking. Then another, and another until he had six in his cutlery at once. He dropped all of them in his rice when a gravy covered piece of pork came flying at his face. He caught it three inches from his nose, though gravy still splatted on his face, a little bit even got in his eye. He closed his eye and then wiped away the dressing.

"Gotchya!" Momo smirked, her own chopsticks held out in victory in front of her.

"You missed." Matthew stated. He then picked up a napkin and cleaned his face. He reared back his hand a little bit and flicked the pork back at Momo. Then, everything went in slow motion, the only warning was the quick patter of nails on the wooden floorboards. A mass of dark brown and black fur appeared between Momo and Matt.

"Glasgow!?" Momo said in slow motion, watching as the open mouthed hound leapt over the table, snatching the piece of meat right out of the air. The dog landed on the other side of the table with the pork hanging out of his mouth. He sat on his haunches, tilted his head back and scarfed down the food. When he finished he licked his lips and looked rather proud of himself, so much so that his tail started wagging and he looked up at his masters expectantly.

"That was my last piece of meat." Momo whined sadly.

"Good boy Glasgow." Matt said, smiling at his dog. Said dog barked happily at the acknowledgement.

"Dick!" Momo said with a pout and a huff, crossing her arms. She pointed at Matt. "Give me yours!"

"Why should I do that?" He asked rhetorically. She answered anyway, clasping her hands together to her chest, forming tears in her eyes and putting on a sweet voice.

"Because I'm a defenceless, poor little girl that can't defend herself from the hostilities of this violent world! I need to keep my strength up, more than a big strong man like you."

"Yeah right." Matt retorted. "Defenceless, just like that time you used a pair of headphones to deafen two dozen people at the same time."

"That-"

"Or when you turned an electronic balance into a land mine."

"But-"

"Or maybe that time a lamp and a toaster became a-

"Technicalities!" Momo said in an 'annoyed that she was defeated' voice. Matthew opened his mouth to say something else before the ringing of Momo's phone went off. She looked at the screen and didn't recognise the number. "Momohime Kyoraku speaking. Who's this?"

"Why can't you be that polite when talking to me?" Matt asked. Momo stuck out her tongue as a response.

"Ah, I've been wondering when I'd hear from you."

* * *

 **A Little Earlier that Night in the Lucky Cat Café**

Hiro was looking through his ruck-sack, making sure he had everything he needed for his nocturnal excursion, his first one in over a week.

"Megabot, check. Megabot controller 2.0, check. Knife, check." After checking everything off of his list he zipped the bag closed and hefted it onto his back. He walked over to his bedroom window and lifted it open. He hoisted one leg over the ledge before being startled by an unexpected voice.

"Going somewhere?" Tadashi asked from the doorway. Hiro jumped from the fright and fell onto the floor.

"Tadashi!" He said annoyed, picking himself up. "You almost gave me a heart attack! And yes, to answer your question. I'm going to a bot fight across town." Tadashi sighed at that last statement.

"You haven't learned your lesson have you?"

"What lesson?" Hiro asked incredulously. "Okay so I got a little roughed up last time, but now I'm prepared." He said cockily.

"Prepared how?" Tadashi asked skeptically, crossing his arms and leaning against the door frame.

"None of your business." Hiro replied, crossing his own arms and turning away from his brother. Tadashi scoffed. He walled over, grabbed Hiro's bag by the fabric hook at the top and yanked him closer. "Hey!" Hiro cried out. "Stop that!" Tadashi paid him no heed and continued to zip open the bag. He reached in and pulled out Hiro's weapon of choice.

"A knife, really?" He asked rhetorically. He began to examine it. It was a survival bowie knife, encased in a black leather sheath. He pulled it out and looked at the blade.

"Yeah, so what?" Hiro said, reaching out to take the knife back. Tadashi however raised it out of the smaller's reach. Hiro's face donned an angry pout.

"What makes you think that this will do you any good? I mean, the people out there probably have more experience than you, and if they get it from you you're as good as dead." Tadashi stated, letting Hiro take the knife from his grasp.

"Then why are you giving it back?" Hiro asked, letting his bag fall from one shoulder and putting the knife back in. Tadashi let out a frustrated sigh at the thought of what he was about to say.

"Hiro, what if I were to let you go out bot fighting and not interfere ever again?"

"Sign me up right now." Hiro said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"I'm serious Hiro!" Tadashi snapped. "I'll never interfere again as long as you obey one condition." Hiro raised an eyebrow at Tadashi's words.

"Say I were to agree, what condition do I have to obey?"

"I know a guy, or Gogo knows a guy, and apparently he can take care of himself in a fight. My condition is that whenever you go bot fighting that this guy goes with you, to act a bodyguard."

"Okay, say I agreed, I can only go when it suits this guy, whoever he is?"

"That's about it, yeah. It's either that or I put you on lock down, and I'd rather not do that."

"Hmm," Hiro weighed out the various outcomes in his mind. _'I doubt Tadashi would actually put me on lockdown but he'd do anything to interfere. If I let this guy be my bodyguard then I'll be able to go without a problem but only at certain times.'_ After thinking about it for another couple minutes Hiro came to his conclusion.

"Fine, I accept this deal of yours. Now call this guy so I can make some money." Tadashi smiled at after Hiro said that.

"I'll get to that." Tadashi took his cell out of his pocket and dialled the number he learned off by heart.

" **Momohime Kyoraku speaking. Who's this**?"

"Hello, this is Tadashi Hamada. I was told by our friend Gogo that you could help me with a pest problem I have." He said. Hiro rolled his eyes at that comment.

" **Ah, I've been wondering when I'd hear from you.** " The person on the other side of the line said. " **Now how may I be of service to you**?"

"Uhh," Tadashi said. "I was told that you have a friend that can be my brother's bodyguard."

" **You were told correctly Tadashi. Now where should I send him? Do you know where Hiro is our do we need to go looking**?"

"No he's here, at the Lucky Cat Café in southeast central San Fransokyo. Do you know where that is?"

" **No but I'll find it easily enough**."

"So when should I be expecting...?"

" **His name's Matthew Raijūmura. Say hi Matthew!** " A few seconds of silence followed, and then a sigh.

" **Hello**." A voice that wasn't Momo's said.

" **Doesn't he sound ecstatic**?" Momo asked rhetorically. " **Anyway he should be at your door in 35 minutes, give or take 5 minutes. He'll see you then**." She hung up. Tadashi looked at his phone for a few seconds, not expecting such...peppyness, from this particular phone call.

"Anyway," Tadashi said, pocketing his phone and looking at Hiro. "your bodyguard'll be here about 35 minutes. Seems like you've got time to kill."

"Damn, I might not make it in time." Hiro put his hands in his hoodie pockets. "I guess it's better than you badgering me." He walled over to his computer and sat in the chair. "While he's making his way I'm gonna find another fight to attend."

* * *

 **With Matt and Momo**

"You need to get ready now." Momo said, placing her phone on the table.

"I never would've guessed." Matt said, standing up walking out of the kitchen. "I'll wear my suit under normal clothes in case something comes up."

"Bring the helmet and broken sword with you too!" Momo said as she reached across the table and grabbed Matt's plate of food. She picked up three strips of pork with her chopsticks and looked at them, drooling and with gluttony in her eyes. She shoved them all in at once, only to hear a whine coming from the floor next to her. Glasgow sat there, ears drooped and puppy eyes activated at maximum capacity. She looked him dead in the eye, he looked back, an intense starting contest emerging between girl and dog. She started to slowly chew, a drop of gravy running down the side of her mouth. Glasgow whined again, then he opened his mouth and let his tongue hang out. A bead of sweat ran down Momo's temple as she gulped down the meat.

"Damn it." She cursed under her breath. She picked up Matt's plate and put it on the ground in front of Glasgow, whose tail started wagging instantly. "Dumb mutt!"

A few minutes later Matthew came down the stairs, wearing dark denim jeans and an open black leather jacket. You could see the top of his Vigilante suit through the open jacket but it could easily be passed off as a normal t-shirt. He had a ruck-sack on his shoulders which contained the helmet that'd keep him in contact with Momo, as well as a small suitcase much like the one that he kept at his lab, the one that contained 4 blades, a hilt and a guard.

"You have the suit on under right?" Momo asked as she rinsed the dishes at the sink.

"Yeah, along with the helmet and sword, though I've no sheath, which'll be annoying." He replied. "Where's my food?" He asked, gesturing to the empty table. Glasgow choose that moment to walk over to him and look up, showing his gravy and rice covered face which he quickly cleared with a lick of his tongue. "Why'd you give him my dinner!?" Momo shrugged, decidedly not turning to face him.

"It was out of my control, he gave me the accursed puppy eyes that a dog his age shouldn't be able to make!" She said the second half of that sentence with frustrated anger. She rotated her chair to face her housemate. "You should get going now, that café is a considerable distance away and we wouldn't want to keep them waiting."

"Yeah. I'll be taking your bike." He turned away and walked towards the front door. "I'll be back whenever." He declared as he took a motorcycle key from a bowl. He opened the front door and left the house.

"Scratch my bike and Glasgow will be eating more than just your dinner!" He heard Momo yell.

He walked the brief path to the garage and pressed the clicker on the bunch of keys, opening the garage door. Entering the garage he quickly put on the bike helmet and then zipped up his leather jacket. He then walked over to, and mounted, a black and red Harley Davidson Night Rod. He inserted the key into the ignition and started the bike and kicked the kickstand back. He revved the engine and took off, out the garage and up the road, into the night towards central San Fransokyo.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

True to Momo's word it took over 30 minutes for Matthew to reach the café, even with the sat nav system built into the helmet showing him the quickest route. He parked the bike in a lot about a block away from the café.

* * *

 **Matt's POV**

Within a couple of minutes I was at the front door. I raised an eyebrow at the weird white cat thing over the door. I decided to ignore it and knocked on the glass. Only a couple of lights were on but I could see a woman sweeping the floor. She looked up and mouthed;

"We're closed."

"I'm here to see Tadashi Hamada." I replied. "He is here right?" She walked over to door, unlocked it, opened it and looked at me with a confused look.

"Why do wanna see my nephew?" She asked, crossing her arms. "Are you from school?"

"I do go to S.F.I.T but that's not the reason. I've been shanghaied into being bodyguard for a gambler with an apparently snarky attitude." I said. After she registered what I told her, her eyes widened in anger. She turned around and hollared;

"BOOOOYS!" That yell was soon followed by the sound of two people walking down the stairs behind the counter. I looked at them as they walked out, looking kinda guilty and somewhat solemn. I could tell that they were, like me, Japanese, or at least half Japanese. I guessed that was the case since their aunt was caucasian, unless there was adoption involved or something.

"What's this I hear about a bot fighting bodyguard?" She had her hands on her hips and was tapping her foot on the floor. "Well!?" Both of them looked rather sheepish as they both stumbled to explain the situation. Eventually they managed to get out some semblance of an explanation. By that time though Cass, as I soon discovered to be the name of the woman, had migrated to behind the counter and began eating a blueberry muffin.

"What is with you boys!?" Said asked rhetorically. "You and your bot fighting," She gestured her arm and Hiro as she swallowed a mouthful. "and you with your...encouraging him!" She gestured to Tadashi. She then finished the muffin and pinched her gut. "Look at what you're doing to me!" She then looked at me. "So what's your story?"

"I'm simply a guy whose keeping a promise." I said. "I have things to be doing so is this happening or not?" Tadashi looked at Cass.

"Hiro's gonna get out anyway, at least with him there" He pointed at me with his thumb. "he won't get hurt."

"I'd be fine either way ya know." Hiro inputted. The other two looked glared at him, effectively silencing him. Cass inhaled through her nose and then sighed.

"Fine, I guess I can live with this for now." She said, then she shot a glare at me. "I expect him to fine when he comes home."

"You have my word." I said blandly, knowing that realistically no one we'll encounter could even hope to land a hit on me. "But before we depart there are a couple of things we need to talk about." I stepped forward through the threshold of the shop. "Firstly, I won't be able to do this every night of the week. I have college to keep up with as well as other responsibilities." I looked at them and got a sound of agreement from them, though it was begrudgingly gotten from Hiro. "Secondly, if something important is to come up while we are out I'll have to leave, whether Hiro comes back here or not is up to him, but that situation is unlikely to happen."

"So wait," Tadashi intervened. "you'll just leave him out there unprotected?" The way he was speaking would've implied the thing was an absolute scandal.

"Depending on the urgency of the situation I may have to, though if I can I'll escort him back here, but I make no promises." I replied. "Thirdly, there's a limit to how late I'm willing to guard him. Some nights I'll be able to stay longer than others but don't push it. Is this reasonable?"

"Yeah, it is." Hiro said, walking quickly to the door. "Let's get going, Matthew, right?" He asked me.

"Matt's fine." I said. He nodded.

"See ya guys!" Hiro said as he grabbed me by the wrist and out of the cafe.

* * *

 **Normal POV**

Back in the café Tadashi and Cass were just looking at the door, worry etched into their features. Cass looked at a display if donuts on the counter, willing herself not to eat every single one them.

"I'm going to bed." She finally declared. She grabbed the broom she was using beforehand and forced it into Tadashi's grip. "Finish sweeping please." She asked, *cough* *cough* ordered *cough* *cough*, him as she ascended to the apartment above.

With Matt and Hiro, the pair were walking down the luminescent street of San Fransokyo.

"Soooo..." Hiro said awkwardly. "how's you get roped into this?" Matt looked at him out of the corner of his eye.

"I owe your brother's friend a favour. Apparently they're close enough that she's having me do this for him." He explained.

"Aah." Hiro said in understanding. "So which friend of Tadashi's do you owe, or _did_ owe, I guess?"

"Ethel, or Gogo as you'd probably know her."

"Funny, I've never actually met Tadashi's friends." Hiro commented.

"I see them occasionally around campus," Matt said. "from what I can tell, they're nice people."

"Wait, you go to Tadashi's nerd school?" Hiro asked with a disbelieving chuckle. "How old are you anyway?"

"I'm 15. You?"

"14."

"Then what are you doing boy fighting? Shouldn't you be in High School or something?" Matt inquired.

"I graduated at thirteen." Hiro said smugly. "What about you, you must be something special to already be in Tadashi's nerd school."

"It's called a university kid, not a nerd school." Matt corrected. "But you're wrong, I'm not anything special, I just had an opportunity and I took it, that's all." Hiro scoffed. Another couple minutes of silence followed.

"Ya know you're tall for 15." Hiro said.

"Really?" Matt said sarcastically. "I never noticed." Hiro chuckled. "Now that I think about it, you're short for 14." That ended Hiro's chuckle.

"Hey, I just haven't had my growth spurt yet!" He responded.

"Then I suggest you start eating your greens." Matt said. Hiro looked indignant and blushed slightly. "So where's this match of yours?"

"It's on Hirohito Avenue." Hiro answered. "You know where that is?"

"Yeah, it's not too far."

"You know if we're lucky we might see the Vigilante tonight." Hiro said with a smile. Matt remained stoic but was actually a little perturbed by the statement.

"What makes you say that?" He asked.

"I dunno." Hiro answered. "I guess I'm just interested in the guy a little." Hiro answered. "What do you think of him?" Matthew thought about his answer for a few seconds.

"I don't really think much about that kind of thing."

"Oh." Hiro said. "I think he's cool, going around every night, beating up the bad guys, saving people." He said with admiration in his voice. "You hear about things like that in other parts of the world but I don't think we've ever had anything like that in San Fransokyo."

"First of all, he kills the bad guys. Secondly I remember talk of some guy in tights running around the city a few years ago." He said with little emotion.

"Really, I haven't heard of him."

"Apparently he wasn't very spectacular."

"Anyway, you must have some sort of opinion about the Vigilante. Can't you tell me?" Hiro asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I guess so." Matt sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I think he's a necessary evil."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"No thoughts on the good and evil of taking a human life?"

"Nope."

None?"

"None."

"Okay." Hiro said, looking oddly at Matt. "Come on, I wanna make it before they end it!" Hiro broke into a light sprint. Matt followed him, having to put in effort as to not pass him out. "Race ya!" Matt gave a begrudging sigh, deciding to humour Hiro's antics.

It didn't take too long to reach Hirohito Avenue, and when they did Hiro quickly led the way to where he knew the bot fight was on. They walked down a shady looking alleyway until the sounds of cheering became more pronounced. They soon saw a crowd of people standing around a ring, cheering on a fairly even bot fight.

"Alright," Hiro whispered. "after this fight finishes the ref will ask if anyone wants to step up, at which point I will, looking weak and timid holding Megabot. I'll throw the first match making me look like easy prey. They'll more than likely agree to a second match and that's when I'll kick their ass and win my money. Got it?"

"Yeah." Matt answered plainly.

"Alright!" Hiro then dropped his bag and opened it, taking it Megabot and its controller. Matt spotted the sheathed knife in the bag, leading him to say this;

"Give me the knife."

"What? Why?"

"Because I'll use it better than you."

Hiro looked like he was going to say something on response but decided to stay quiet as he knew the statement was probably true. He took it out and placed the weapon in Matthew's outstretched hand.

"Thank you." Matt said with sarcastic politeness.

Soon enough the winner was announced and Hiro took the chance to start his rouse. Matt watched with amusement as the boy went through his game. When Hiro sat himself on the edge of the ring Matt took his place, standing behind him with his arms crossed and the sheathed knife clapped to his jeans. He fixed an intimidating look onto his face, glaring out Hiro's opposition.

The first match didn't last long, so soon the second match started, and Hiro won in less than thirty seconds. The man on tight losing side was fuming as Hiro feigned ignorance while putting his winnings into his backpack.

"You're gonna pay for that you fucker!" The man said in a Brooklyn accent, pulling out a pistol from behind him and pointed it at Hiro. Matt acted instantly, the knife held backhanded in his right hand and the blade resting against the man's throat.

"Now that, was a very bad idea." Matt said calmly. "I suggest you release the magazine from that gun of yours and then we can all go home in one piece. Sound good to you Precious?"

"Fuck you!" 'Precious' spat, a bead of nervous sweat running down his face.

"Now now, don't be rude. How long did it take for me to get this knife to your throat? Less than a second probably. Now how long do you think it would take to remove your head from your shoulders?" To emphasise the point Matthew pressed the blade lightly against his throat, drawing blood. "Now do as I say, and release the magazine." He said slowly, punctuating each word. The man decided, for the sake of his survival, to do as he was told and let the magazine fall harmlessly to the ground. He put his hands up in a passive manner, allowing Matt to safely sheath the knife. "Good choice." When he turned he had the group of bot fighters looking at him with surprise and a little awe, especially Hiro.

"Back to your knitting everyone, the shows over." He walked over to Hiro and grabbed his upper arm, leading him out of the alley.

"That was awesome!" Hiro declared. "You had that guy pissing his pants, and you were so fast too! How'd you get that fast?"

"...I jog." He answered plainly.

"And?" Hiro asked expecting something a little more spectacular than that.

"And I take occasional self-defence class." Hiro scoffed at that.

"Yeah right. You don't get a man to disarm his own gun with just a knife like that with jogging a self-defence class." Hiro crossed his arms and smirked at Matt. "What's with you?"

"It's nothing for you to be concerned about." Matt said plainly. Hiro shrugged.

"Okay then Bodyguard, let's get to match number two." Hiro said, picking up the pace.

"Where to this time?" Matt asked, copying Hiro's stride.

"Only a couple blocks away." After a few minutes they neared the area, it was virtually the same layout as the last place. Matt leaned into Hiro and began whispering in his ear.

"I suggest you not screw people this time, show off your power, make yourself the target to beat and people will come to you."

"Won't I piss off more people then?" Hiro whispered back.

"Yeah but not to such a degree as to have someone want to kill you." He smirked. "Besides, even if something does happen I'm here, remember."

"Sure thing." Hiro strode ahead into the crowd to witness the climax of the fight. When the opportunity came he presented himself for the next fight, gloating about his unbeatable Megabot. Sure enough the winner accepted the challenge and he was easily put out of commission by Hiro and his bot.

"Come on who's next?" Hiro said confidently. Matt leaned against the wall that Hiro, as winner, now sat before. Another challenger stepped up to the plate, a fast looking one that actually managed to evade Megabot longer than usual before being torn apart piece by piece. The woman sauntered away, disbelief still etched onto her features.

About half a dozen more bot fighters came and went in Hiro's tirade, each as confident in their abilities as the last but each were put in their place. At this point Hiro's backpack was filled with cash, and Matt was getting a little more impressed each time. After picking up Megabot and collecting his latest wad of winnings from the ref, Hiro stood up.

"I thank you all for your attendance tonight and it pains me to have to leave but I have places to be." He slung his bag over his shoulder. "Come on B.G we're done here for the night." Matt raised an eyebrow at the name but followed Hiro nonetheless. He glared at those who glared at Hiro, daring them to make a move. No-one did so everyone went away unharmed, though some did have lighter wallets.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

After another couple of hours Hiro and Matt were outside the Lucky Cat Café, the former very pleased with the copious amounts of money in his bag.

"I hope you're pleased kid, this much cash should keep you happy for a while." Matt said.

"It should do me for a few weeks," Hiro replied, putting a key into the door. "I'm gonna upgrade Megabot with my winnings. Although I might go out at some point just because I'll be bored." He opened the door. "I might need you then cause I just have a knack for annoying people." He chuckled.

"I know." Matt deadpanned. "After all, I did just spend a night watching you scam people out of their cash."

"Yeah, you should try it, it's fun."

"I'll pass, thanks." A silence hung in the air for a few seconds.

"So do you wanna come in for a bit, maybe have a pastry? My aunt is quite the baker." He offered.

"No thanks, I've got things to do, places to be and whatnot."

"Okay." Hiro said, closing the door and giving a small wave. Matthew returned it with a quick salute of his index and middle finger, and then walked away.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

The white haired teen walked through the front door of his house. He threw his keys into the bowl and walked into the living room to see his friend on the couch with a book, and their dog resting his head on her lap.

"Hey Matt." She said sleepily. "How'd it go?"

"Fine." He said, taking a seat next to her. "Nothing too eventful."

"That's good." She rested her head on his shoulder. He responded by putting his arm around her. She was asleep soon, so Matt decided to pick her up bridal style to bring her to her subterranean room, the basement, or 'Sheath' as she dubbed it due to it being the closest thing they had to a headquarters. Glasgow stirred at the movement but also quickly went back to sleep. Matt made his way over to Momo's bed and placed her on it.

He made his way to his room and got into Vigilante mode, deciding to go out and find something to do until morning.

* * *

 **With Hiro**

He watched Matt walk away, observing his strong gait, still wondering how he managed to be so fast.

 _'I'll get it out of him at some point.'_ He thought. He was about turn away before noticing out of the corner of his eye, a shadowy figure standing at the corner opposite the shop, the opposite direction from which Matt was going. He rubbed his eyes to clear his vision but when he looked again the figure was gone. He looked up and down the street before bolting the door shut and locking it. He tip-toed up his room as quietly as he could, placing his backpack on the floor and stripping to his boxers. He climbed into his bed and thought about the events of that night before drifting off to sleep.

* * *

 **That's it for this chapter, don't expect he next one to be out for about a month, I have to finish my next chapter for chronicles of Orion as well as keep up with my schoolwork. Reviews inspire me though, so keep that in mind.**

 **Just some name pronunciations:**

 **Raijūmura: rye-jew-moo-ra**

 **Momohime: momo-he-may**

 **Kyoraku: key-o-ra-ku**

 **Hayate: hi-aah-tae**

 **Asegawa: os-eh-gaw-wa**

 **I bid you adieu.**


	4. The Dantian Users

**Published: 8th of November 2015**

 **Hey readers, thanks for all reviews and follows I got, they're appreciated. I have good news today, good for you anyway, I have decided to put my other story on hiatus and focus on this one for the time being. Don't expect them to be rolling off the conveyer belt though, I still have much work to do this school year, and the one after that, and a few more after that.**

 **cryptidresearcher: to answer your question, right now.**

 **Anyway, on with the story.**

* * *

 _ **Summary of last chapter:**_ _It starts with Momo and Matt sitting ar home eating Chinese food. After an incident involving flying meat Momo is called by Tadashi._

 _Meanwhile at the Lucky Cat Café Hiro is about to sneak out but is caught by Tadashi. He tells him about Matt and offers a deal where Matt goes with Hiro and he himself won't interfere. Hiro agrees so Tadashi calls the number Gogo gave him._

 _Matt takes his bike to the café and first meets Cass. She is ignorant of the agreement going on and, after some convincing from Tadashi, she reluctantly agrees to let it happen._

 _Matt lays out his own ground rules that basically sum up to; "if I have something I need to do then I'm gonna do it". He and Hiro then leave for the first bot fight._

 _At the bot fight Hiro hustled a guy and he pulled a gun on him. Matt quickly had the knife Hiro brought with him at the man's neck. The man disarmed himself and Matt and Hiro left._

 _Later that night Matt escorts Hiro home and takes his leave. Hiro notices a figure across the street but it disappeared before he could get a clearer look._

* * *

 **Chapter Four: The Dantian Users**

* * *

Matt (As the Vigilante) was atop a warehouse and was looking down through glass panels at what seemed to be a trade off of some sorts.

"I've got 'em Eyes, just waiting to see what they're selling." He said in his altered voice. He got no response. "Eyes? You there?" He could hear shuffling and mumbling on the other end of the line.

"Sorry Vig, it was Big-Brother, Little-Brother's wanting to go out again." She said.

"What? The kid made at _least_ a grand just 4 days ago! What reason could he possibly have to go out tonight!?" He asked rhetorically.

"Well he-" Eyes began.

"Forget it. I'll be quick." He continued to observe the meeting, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. The two apparent ringleaders of the operation walked to the centre of room and began to discuss terms, one a shady looking beast of a man and the other a woman with naval length raven hair and a suit. The man gestured for something to be brought over to them. What Matt saw made him sick, as well as dangerously angry. It was seven children, no older than 12 or 13, of both genders restrained by the wrists and ankles. They were all connected by chains and were rugged, dishevelled and a bit bruised.

"I'm going in." Matt said, grabbing the hilt of the sword.

"Matt no!" Momo protested. "If you go in now then they'll open fire and an innocent might get caught in the crossfire. Bide your time and wait to strike." Matt growled lightly in frustration.

"You're right, this just makes me lose my cool sometimes."

"I know, but you need to stay focused. After the buying party leaves deal with the sellers, then get to the buyers before they reach the docks, okay."

"Okay." Matt agreed. "Thanks. Without you in my head I'd have died out here by now."

"Oh honey you'd be dead ten times over of I didn't keep that nasty temper of yours in check."

"You could've just taken the compliment."

"I know but I-" Matt cut off the link.

He continued watching for a few more minutes, nearly jumping in and massacring the lot when a boy broke down sobbing making the man, the seller, put the barrel of a pistol in his mouth, only causing further sounds of terror. Even from where he was crouching Matt could feel the fear emanating from the child. It made him want to kill someone. The man then began to go off on a rant about how the ones being sold were inferior beings compared to him and that they should be grateful that they were being given a chance at a new life.

The man then pulled back the hammer of the gun, sounding the threatening 'click'. The boy was frozen in fear, unable to move. It soon got the better of him as he involuntarily began to soil himself. Nearly everyone on the selling side broke out in a mocking laugh, the buyers however remained deadly quiet.

The man put his gun back into its holster and began to speak once again with the buyer. It ended with a handshake and a briefcase, presumably full of money, being handed over. Matthew caught the last sentence spoken by the buyer, it made his blood boil even more.

" appreciates your cooperating in the procuring of merchandise." She said with a German accent as she put her right hand over her heart and bowed lightly.

"Pleasure doing business with ya. Don't take it personally but I'm gonna make sure you've given me everything that you owe. It's just good business after all."

"Of course." The woman replied, gesturing to the case. "Be my guest."

One of the man's associates came over and and held his arms out so the boss could open the case properly. He undid the fastenings and lifted the lid. It had no money, only a big plank of oak wood.

"You bitch!" As he turned to face her he took out his pistol again, but he came face to face with another pistol, one that was not hesitant in blowing his brains out. Before the other dozen on the selling side could respond they were each quickly killed by a series of well aimed shots. The prisoners were spared any further injury due to the professional marksmanship of Murphy's Law.

The woman turned and began to walk away. As she did another member was walking towards the captives. Matt turned on the link again.

"I'm going in!" Matt quickly drew his sword slashed at the window, falling through and landing in front of the man walking towards the prisoners. Before the man fully realized the trouble he was in he was cut across the chest. Blood sprayed out, Matthew leapt over the collapsing corpse into gunfire, using his sword to deflect bullets his agility didn't let him avoid. Some tried to run but he stabbed or slashed before they got away. Eventually only the woman was left, she was pointing her empty gun at the Vigilante, pulling the trigger on the off chance that another bullet would emerge.

"You done?" Matt asked rhetorically. He then dashed at her and delivered a swift turning kick to her ribs. She went flying into the wall and Matt was by her in an instant, thrusting his blade through her hand into the wall.

"GRAAAHH!" She yelled in pain. Before she could do anything else Matt shoved four fingers into her mouth. He moved them around, prompting an explicit gurgle from her. She grabbed his wrist to pull it out but she was saved the trouble when Matt ripped his hand out himself, bringing with it a tooth.

"No cyanide for you ma'am, everyone else swallowed it before I could get any information out of them. Now, tell me about Murphy!" He demanded. The woman shot him a bloody smirk.

"You should know, Vigilante, that no amount of torture, bribery or coercion will get us to betray our master." She spat blood onto his mask. "You might as well kill me here and now." She looked him in the eye, through the mask at least.

"Ya know what, you're right." He pulled out his sword and she fell to the ground. He made quick work of beheading her, quickly stepping back to avoid the fountain of blood spewing out of her neck. He, quite ominously, turned his head to look at the prisoners, each of then looking a special kind of scarred.

 _'I probably should've considered them before killing the lot.'_ He thought. He began to walk over to them, making them flinch in fear.

"I'm freeing you." That didn't stop them from fearing him but it stopped them from moving. He made short work of cutting the chains before sheathing the blade.

"Now run, the police should be here very soon, they'll help you." He said. After saying that he ran up wall of the warehouse and and jumped out of the exit he previously made. As he went away he heard the sirens of the authorities on their way.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

Matt ran up to café, knocking on the door. He was in a rush to get there as he was delayed quite a bit. After he freed the prisoners he had to go home, shower to get the smell of blood out, change his clothes and then take 35 minutes journey to the city. He made a deal, and one thing he always did was do his best to honour any deal he made.

Hiro answered the door not 10 seconds later, obviously anxious to leave.

"C'mon we need to hurry!" He said grabbing Matt's wrist and pulling him down the street. "This is a very special fight, it's an organised preliminary round and if I beat everyone else I go through to an elimination tournament involving the other winners of preliminaries around the city. If I win that then I'll be able to enter a state-wide competition consisting of the winners of each major city. 32 winners will emerge from that and compete to find out who the greatest Bot-Fighter in all of California!" He got really excited towards the end, so much so he pumped his fist into the air. "But this is the only chance to enter. If I miss it now I'll never get in."

"So this is about status instead of money, isn't it?" Matt asked, prying his hand from Hiro's surprisingly strong grip.

"Yeah, any betting is casual between people so it is _not_ illegal, something that my big brother had very little understanding of." Hiro said, not slowing down at all.

"So where are going?" Matt asked, easily keeping up with Hiro, who he noticed was beginning to pant already.

"Down the street to the Clinton-Abe memorial building."

"You'll never make it there in time, you're too slow kid."

"Well then what do you suggest wise-guy?" Hiro asked stopping and putting his hands on his thighs, panting deeply. Matt thought for a few seconds before shirking his bag off of his shoulders and putting it on his front.

"Get on." He said, crouching forward a little to invite Hiro onto his back. The boy didn't think about it and hopped on, willing to do anything to make the deadline. Matt gripped onto the underneath of Hiro's knees as he held onto his shoulders. "Hang tight." He took off in a speedy sprint, much faster than before, prompting Hiro to put his arms around his neck instead.

He made short work of reaching their destination, despite nearly knocking over a couple innocent bystanders in the process. Hiro got off Matt and stumbled, getting head-rush going at such a speed. Matt grabbed onto his sleeve before he fell onto the pavement.

"Steady yourself."

"Okay, I'm good." Hiro said, regaining his balance. "Ya know, your lower back's really hard, what do you have under there, it's like metal?"

 _'Aw crap.'_ Matt thought, having forgotten that Hiro would feel his weights. "It's s back brace, my spine's a little out of line and this helps straighten it." He made up.

"Oh." Hiro said, seemingly accepting the answer. "Should you really be running then, let alone with someone on your back?"

"It's fine, trust me." He said. "Now c'mon, I didn't carry you here just to miss the deadline."

"Right!"

Hiro led Matthew down a nearby alley, stopping in front of a metal door. He then knocked a special way, leading whoever was on the other side to open a latch on the door and show only their eyes.

"Password?" He asked.

"Robotica Metalicana." Hiro answered. The latch shut and the door opened.

"Your fee."

"Right." Hiro said, taking a was of cash out of his hoodie pocket. The guard counted the bills before letting the two of them through the door. "Thanks."

The guard sat down on his chair and pulled out a copy of Little Women. After a few minutes another knock came from the door. He grumbled and begrudgingly put down his book. He opened the latch and asked;

"Password?"

"Robotica Metalicana." The other responded. He opened the door and held his hand out.

"Your fee." The person was wearing shorts, sneakers and a black hoodie with the hood up, though ginger hair could be seen poking out from underneath.

"Whoops," He said, turning his pockets inside out. "seems like I forgot all of my money at home." The guard got a frustrated look on his face.

"It you can't pay then scram!" He bellowed, reaching out to grab the guy by his collar. The guy smirked as he brought his own hand up to intercept, gripping the guard's bigger limb by the wrist.

"I'd rather you didn't." His grip tightened harshly and he pulled down, forcing the guard's upper body down as well, causing his jaw to meet the guy's raised knee. He then grabbed the guard's shirt by the collar and midsection, turned and then threw him into the wall of the adjacent building, causing a mild tremor in the alley way. "Thanks anyway." He said as he shut the door on his way in.

* * *

 **In the Warehouse from Earlier**

* * *

The room was devoid of any life, blood stains and corpses littered the floor. The large door opened, letting flashes of red and blue in. A policewoman walked in, gun out and prepared to fire at any threats.

"Jesus." She said after seeing the mess left behind. She surveyed the room to make sure it was safe before declaring;

"All clear." Another more officer and the commissioner walked in, both still very wary of the room.

"It's a bloody massacre." The officer commented as he walked to the far side of the room.

"Sir, do you think it was the Vigilante?" The policewoman asked the commissioner. The large man keeled down and looked over one of the suit wearing corpses.

"Yes, this is without a doubt _his_ handiwork."

"Commissioner Asegawa," the policeman said as he walked over to the man. "the bodies on the other side of the room all died from gunshots, not a hint of them being cut or slashed by a sword or anything else."

"Interesting." The commissioner mumbled under his breath. He began to walk around the room, looking at each body in turn and coming up with a scenario of death for each one. All seemed as it should until he reached a particular bloodstain. He moved his hand to the gun in his holster.

"Commissioner?" The policewoman asked.

"We're missing a body." He said. Both officers got understandably confused looks on their faces.

"What do you mean?" The policeman inquired. Asegawa didn't turn, but kept looking at the bodyless bloodstain as if he expected something to pop out at him.

"Take a look at every corpse on this room. With every corpse is the right amount of blood for their respective wounds. Different amounts and flow patterns depending on where they were cut or shot. All of them except this one, there is no body, no corpse, not even a trail," He said those last few words with more frustration than the rest. "to go with it."

"What if they lived sir, and just walked away?" The policewoman asked.

"Impossible." The commissioner answered. "There's too much blood lost, and even they did leave then we'd see a blood trail."

"What are you saying happened then Commissioner?" The policeman asked. The commissioner sighed through his nose.

"I truly don't know." He said. He turned abruptly and looked authoritatively at the two. "Esset, Sanders, you will both give a police escort to the children we found outside back to the Station-East, understood?"

"Yes sir!" They saluted.

The commissioner left the building, gritting his teeth as he did so.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

A couple of blocks away, atop a rooftop of a high apartment complex there stood a woman, a woman in an elegant, black, three piece suit with raven coloured hair that reached her lower back, red eyes, pale white, porcelain-like skin, rectangular rimmed glasses and white gloves. This woman, given what she went through not more than 2 hours earlier, should be undeniably dead, head cut off and all, yet here she stood.

She tapped her foot impatiently as she looked at her ticking pocket-watch. Her eyes darted to her left and she closed her pocket-watch before pocketing it.

"You're late." She snapped in German.

"My apologies Frau Heisler, with the vigilante in the vicinity we were being cautious." A man responded, also in German. Heisler turned to face him. He was in a very low bow, down on one knee and a fist on the ground. He was wearing a full body, blood red, hooded cloak. On the back of the cloak was a gothic number 8.

"In any case, did all go as planned?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. He smirked.

"Of course, Frau Heisler, all went according to the plan you set out for us."

"Excellent, well done Wendall." She said. The now named Wendall stood up.

"How did you do, did you achieve your objective?"

"Of course, I discovered much about the inner workings of Murphy's Law. Though I didn't meet any of the lieutenants, which is a shame."

"Of course ma'am."

"It's for the best. I may not be as renowned as the other members of the Bāxiān but I'm still recognisable."

"You could've beaten any one of the lieutenants ma'am. With ease."

"I know. Beating them wouldn't have been the issue, the conflict that could've potentially emerged from their deaths would've caused uproar in an already fragile truce." She said.

"Yes, I can see how that'd be an issue." Wendall said. "And the Raijūmura boy? What of him?"

"A competent swordsman, but had let his discipline in the mental arts disintegrated. Someone of his age, status and previous potential should be greater than a mere Class-4."

"A mere Class-4, Ma'am?" He asked, sounding slightly offended.

"Take nothing by it Wendall, Matthew Raijūmura was predicted to be a high Class-3 to a low Class-2 at this point. He is shaming his family every day he remains in this city." Heisler said.

"I understand ma'am. Now will you take care of that rat, or will I?" Wendall asked.

"It's fine, I'll do it." She held her right hand out to the side, black smoke began emitting from her sleeve morphed into a two metre pole with a large protrusion at the top end. She gripped the smoke and pulled out a large scythe with a black handle, a silver skull at the top and a large, curved, dark grey blade about 3 feet in length. Heisler then disappeared instantly, leaving an uproar of dust where she stood. A loud scream pierced the air as Heisler looked swung at the escaping agent of Murphy's Law, mid-air, with her large weapon. She bisected him, right down through the middle.

"Zerfall **(Decay)**." Heisler said, causing the body to begin to decay at an abnormal rate as it fell to the ground. Within a minute the corpse, along with the blood spilled from it, was naught but dust, disappearing into the wind. The scythe also disappeared into black smoke.

"You are truly terrifying Frau Heisler." Wendall stated, appearing behind Heisler as she landed on the ground.

"I am aware." She said, looking over and starting intently at a building across the street. "Come, we return to Deutschland ( **Germany)** immediately." She again disappeared with dust blowing from where she stood once again, this time with Wendall following her.

* * *

 **An Hour Earlier With Hiro and Matthew**

Matt watched with mild amusement as Hiro another opposing bot. This whole organisation of fights was very different from previous ones. It took place in the basement of a vacant, government owned building, there was no betting except between individuals and the ring was much larger and was fenced off. Matt, as he was accompanying a contestant, was allowed past the fence. Besides him only the players and referee were allowed in.

"Yes!" Hiro declared in delight, winning his eighth consecutive match. Matt smirked.

"And winning his eighth fight in a row: Hiroooo Hamadaaaa!" The ref practically sang into the microphone, the crowd cheering in response. "Who's the next challenger?" Her voice echoed. There was a resounding silencing of the crowd, everyone having seen what Hiro and Megabot could do. You see, these matches were fought and decided in a way that allowed only the strongest to go forward. When one person wins they either have the option of leaving the ring and coming back later, or they could take on another challenger. When a person wins a match they get a point and the loser is knocked out of the tournament. If someone is after winning multiple rounds and they lose then they lose all of their points. After everyone has fought those left who have points then fight until only one is left. Whoever's bot is standing last goes through to the next stage of the tournament.

"Is there nooobody?" The ref asked, dragging out the 'o' sound. "If nobody volunteers then we'll just have to draw a name from the pool of those who haven't fought."

"I'll fight." Someone at the back of the crowd said, raising his hand and waving. The crowd parted, allowing everyone to get a good look at him. He looked to be in his mid teens and was wearing light brown knee-length cargo shorts with a dark brown belt and a black hoodie with the hood up. Ginger bangs poked out from the hood. _'There he is.'_ He thought while grinning.

"Approach the fence!" The ref said. The boy did so, the mesh-wire door being opened for him as he approached. He was soon sitting cross legged across from Hiro.

"Put your bot in the ring." The ref said to him, not through the microphone though.

"Oh right, I nearly forgot." He said with a cheeky grin. He took out from his hoodie picked a burnt orange coloured sphere with back lines on it, making it look akin to a miniature mechanized basketball. He also took out a light grey coloured box that was an inch thick and could fit in the palm of his hand.

"State your name, competitor!" The ref said, through the mike this time. The boy pulled down his hood, showing his extremely unruly ginger hair, lightly freckled face, particularly across the bridge of his nose, and green eyes.

"My name is Archibald Bowie," He looked behind at the ref. "but _you_ can call me Archie." He said with a sly grin. The ref scoffed at his feeble advances. He stuck out his lower lip. "Meany." He turned to face Hiro again. "Anyway, Hiro, good luck."

"You're the one who's gonna need luck, Archie." Hiro said with an arrogant smirk. The ref stood between the two and started the match.

Megabot divided into three and quickly surrounded the sphere, waiting for it to make a move. Archie tapped the box with his fingers causing a holographic keyboard to appear above it. He began to one-handedly press keys at a very rapid rate. Spherebot began to roll around the circumference so fast that you could hear a whizzing sound coming from it. Megabot reassembled itself and began to try to follow Spherebot around the ring via cartweeling, though it couldn't keep up. Suddenly, and without losing momentum, Spherebot reversed it's direction, colliding loudly with Megabot. As it was smashed into Megabot broke apart, sparked and smashed. Spherebot kept going but began to slow down, eventually coming to a stop in front of Archie.

Hiro looked at Megabot, mouth agape and disbelief in his eyes. Megabot was smashed to pieces, and not just the three segments that it was designed to, but every segment was detached and cracked, beyond repair.

"Too bad," Archie said. "it was a very clever design." Hiro looked up at Archie, then back at the Megabot pile, then behind at Matt and then back to the Megabot pile.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new leader!" The ref announced. The crowd cheered.

"Could you remove your debris from the ring kid, I kinda have another match to fight." Archie said.

"R-right." Hiro said, disbelief still in his voice. As he stood Matt walked forward and out his hand on his shoulder.

"I got it." He then walked into the ring, keeled down and began picking up the salvageable pieces of Megabot.

"Ya know," Archie said, gaining Matt's divided attention. "from this close up I can really see the Raijūmura in you." Matt froze, knowing that he has never met this person before or ever gave his name.

"What?" Matt said sharply.

"I said," Archie's grin broadened. "I can really see that you're a member of the Raijūmura clan when I'm up this close." He then leaned forward so that he and Matt were nearly touching noses and whispered so only Matt could hear his words; "Especially since you're not wearing that tacky helmet." He leaned back sat cross legged again. He then closed his eyes and exhaled through his nose, releasing his inner energy.

Matt's blood ran cold, hastily picking up what he could and and making a bee line for the door, which was opened for him by a considerate bystander.

"Come on Hiro!" He snapped.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, right. Coming." He stood slowly, still having not completely digested what he witnessed.

"Bye-bye." Archie said, giving a mocking wave.

Matt stormed up the stairs, seething and confused.

 _'How the hell is there someone with such a level of Dantian here!? Let alone one who knows I'm the vigilante?'_ He forced the door open, not noticing the unconscious lug on the ground in his current train of thought. He stopped walking and began breathing heavily, in such a manner that he could be mistaken to be hyperventilating. He dropped the pieces of Megabot and his fists clenched tightly, causing his nails to dig into his palm and draw blood. He felt angry, and confused, but more than anything he was scared. He was scared of the implications that someone like that, someone like him, was lurking around knowing who he was.

 _'If that bastard knows me then he probably knows Momo. Is he with Murphy or Aka Tsuki_ _ **(Red Moon-Japanese)**_ _?'_ He grit his teeth and his breathing became even heavier. He raised his right fist to his eye level and looked at his own blood, both literally and figuratively seeing red. He closed his eyes and clenched his fist again, drawing it back and putting all of his strength into punching the wall. It shook the alley, causing rodents to scurry away in fear. His hand was embedded a few inches into the wall, it was also the centre of a large spider-web pattern crack in the bricks. He opened his eyes, not liking what he saw. There were flickers of white electricity jumping from his wrist, stopping only a couple inches away. He withdrew his hand. It was shaking like a new born calves legs. He gripped his wrist with his other hand and clutched it to his chest.

"Matt?" Matt's head snapped to the side, seeing Hiro's confused look. "Wha-what happened?"

"Nothing." He replied without emotion.

"What do you mean nothing!? You just-"

"Let me rephrase: nothing that concerns you." Matt snapped. Hiro jumped a little at Matt's harsh tone. Matt sighed, feeling a little guilty at the severity of tone he used.

"Sorry Kid, I shouldn't have been that harsh, but it's nothing for you to concern yourself with. They're my problems to deal with." Matt said apologetically. Hiro looked down at the ground, looking for the pieces of Megabot. He saw them, keeled down and began to put them in his hoodie pockets. He looked at Matt again and saw he was looking solemn. He walked over to him and put his hand on Matt's upper arm.

"C'mon, let's go back to my place, we'll clean your hand and you can...have a donut, or something." Hiro said. Matt looked at him and smiled a small smile.

"Sure."

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

Archie was walking down the street and looking at the ticket he won earlier that let him enter the next stage of the bot fighting tournament. He then scrunched up the paper into a ball and threw it over his shoulder.

 _'I got what I want, there's no reason for me to enter that stupid tournament.'_ He thought. _'Though that was an hour of nothing I'll never get back.'_ He thought, referring to the fights he fought after Hiro. Suddenly his eyes widened. He sensed a shockwave of sorts, one that could only be felt by someone in touch with their Dantian, someone like him. He put his hood up and looked around, making sure that there were no witnesses. He jumped onto the side of a building and and then onto the roof of an adjacent one.

Archie began to do as Matt does, and leap from building to building.

 _'That was definitely someone using Dantian, but how is it possible for there to be three unbound Dantian users in the same area!? You'd be lucky to find one per state.'_ He asked himself. _'Then again, if they are bound that's not much better.'_ Within minutes he was close enough, so he stayed put on the roof of the building across the street from the source. He crouched behind a chimney and looked. There was an elegantly dressed woman, with a very large scythe cutting a man in half whilst mid-air. As the corpse fell it began to decay before disintegrating completely.

As the woman landed her scythe disappeared into black smoke. She looked over at the building Archie was on, causing a sweat to drip down his temple. He held the sphere inside his hoodie, prepared to use it if need be. The woman then disappeared, the red clad man Archie didn't notice appear going along with her.

"Fuck." Archie cursed. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK! This is bad." He said, panicking as he began to pace. "There's no way that woman in less than Class-2. She can make materialise and dematerialise her weapon, use Dantian effortlessly _and_ she can wind-jump!?" He fell to his knees and pulled at his hair. "Please please oh bountiful God please let her get the fuck out of this town." He remained silent for a few seconds before standing up, dusting himself off and storming of.

 _'I can't let this distract me, I need to focus on the task at hand. I need to get Matthew to use his Dantian ASAP.'_ He thought, beginning to leap his way home.

* * *

 **Lucky Cat Café**

Matt was in the kitchen in the apartment above the café, washing his hand of the blood and waiting for Hiro to come back with the unnecessary medical kit.

"Got it." Hiro said as he entered the kitchen with said medical kit in hand.

"Aren't I supposed to guard your body, not the other way around?" Matt asked as he dried his hands with power towels. Hiro chuckled.

"Well then I guess the rolls are reversed." He put the kit on the counter and opened it. "Show me your hands." Matt did as told and brought his hands up before Hiro, palms up. Hiro took out a cotton swab and dipped it into a vial of antibacterial fluid and rubbed it on the red cuts made by Matt's nails. He then took out a roll of bandages, wrapped them around both hands and knotted them.

"Now show me the knuckles you nearly brought down a brick wall with." He smirked at his own quip.

"I still think this is unnecessary, I have walked off worse before now." Matt said, though he was ignored. Hiro finished by wrapping bandages around the knuckles. Matt and Hiro's heads both turned to the kitchen door when it opened. Tadashi was standing there in blue boxers and a white t-shirt with extreme bed head. He then looked at the clock and said;

"You're back early." He yawned. He then walked over to the fridge and keeled down to take something out. "So did you win?" Hiro packed away all of the medical supplies as Tadashi took out a carton of milk.

"No, I didn't." Hiro answered, causing Tadashi to spit up some of the milk he was drinking. He wiped milk from his chin and checked the expiration date on the milk carton to make sure it wasn't so out of date he was hallucinating things.

"Who, or what, beat your Megabot?" Tadashi asked.

"Just some guy, had a bot that could move really fast and change direction without losing speed. Smashed Megabot to pieces." To prove his words Hiro took the face of his bot out of his hoodie. Tadashi took it and took a closer look at it. He whistled at seeing the damage.

"So are you gonna rebuild it?" He asked.

"It's gonna be stronger, faster and more badass than last time." He responded. "Though that'll take a while."

"If that's the case then I doubt you'll be needing my services for a while." Matt said.

"Nah," Hiro said. "I work fast so I'll be needing you in only a couple of weeks. That's a while by my standards."

"Oh goodie." Matt said sarcastically. His phone then went off in his pocket. It was a text from Momo. He remained calm on the outside but when he opened it he was groaning on the inside. "Hey, something came up so I'm gonna head off." He said.

"Before you go though would you like that donut?" Hiro asked, reaching out and grabbing Matt by his bag before he walked away.

"Sure thing." He said.

* * *

 **And that is it for this chapter, now let me explain a couple of things: Dantian is loosely translated, from Chinese, as "elixir field", "sea of qi", or simply "energy center". Dantian are important focal points for meditative and exercise techniques such as qigong, martial arts such as t'ai chi ch'uan, and in traditional Chinese medicine. Of course this isn't exactly what I have in my story but that aspect the reason for that will be explained later in the story.**

 **What Dantian is in my story is: a pool of inner energy that is accessed though extensive mediation and physical and mental training. Once accessed Dantian allows a user to manifest superhuman abilities such as enhanced strength, speed, durability and longevity. Users who are especially adept at using Dantian can use supernatural abilities. Most common, and nearly universal, is the ability to create and manipulate elements. A slightly less common ability is to be able to manifest weapons made of hardened Dantian. Dantian and its properties will be further expanded upon as the story progresses.**

 **If anyone is wondering what is meant by "Class-(1-10)" it is simply a scale of power used by organisations comprised of Dantian users to denote the strength of individuals. The lower the number the stronger the Class. Example: a Class-10 would be a Dantian user who is just starting his/her career, generally children who are just beginning their training. There is also a Class-11, but this is just ordinary people who have no distinct levels of Dantian. Classes are always divided into two levels, higher and lower. Lower being those who just reached the class, and higher being those who can contend to ascend to the next class.**

 **Here are the classes of currently known Dantian users:**

 **Class-4: Matthew Raijūmura, Archibald Bowie, Wendall Dunst.**

 **Class-2: Eimer Murphy, Ingrid Heisler.**

 **The other the chapter takes place is a little scrambled so this is the chronological order:**

 **1\. Vigilante at the warehouse.**

 **2\. The Commissioner and the missing body.**

 **3\. A Very special tournament and a Ginger in shorts.**

 **4\. Megabot vs Spherebot and the Punched Wall.**

 **5\. Bandaged hands and bodyguard roll reversal.**

 **6\. A German Scythe of Decay.**

 **7\. A Disturbance in the Dantian and a vulgar Ginger.**

 **Tis all for now,**

 **I bid you adieu.**


	5. The Second Deal

**Published: 11th December 2015**

 **S'up. I hope the the topic of Dantian and the Class scale weren't confusing to anyone. If anyone wants them to be explained further then ask me in a review and I'll put an in-depth description in my profile. Also I changed the summary of the story so let me know if you think it's better.**

* * *

 _ **Summary of last chapter:**_ _Matt is atop a warehouse observing a trade off of human slaves between Murphy's Law and a group of thugs. When Murphy's Law betrays and kills the sellers Matt intervenes and kills the buyers and frees the prisoners._

 _Matt rushes to the Lucky Cat Café to escort Hiro to a bot fight. Along the way Hiro explains that it is a special tournament that after many rounds will decide the best bot fighter in the state. After the pair enter the location a Ginger teen in shorts the guard and enters._

 _At the warehouse from earlier Commissioner Asegawaw and two officers, Esset and Sanders, enter and inspect. Asegawaw realizes that a corpse is missing, the apparent leaders of the buyers and and the one Matt beheaded._

 _On a rooftop a few blocks away the woman Matt beheaded is somehow still alive and is soon joined by a subordinate. He says he accomplished his task and she hers. A Murphy's Law spy is discovered so the woman, Ingrid Heisler, materialises a large scythe and kills him, his corpse disintegrates into dust. The two disappear using a sort of fast travel technique._

 _Back at the bot fight Hiro is kicking ass before the guy who knocked out the guard came along and smashes Megabot to pieces. As Matt picks up the pieces the guy, Archibald Bowie, reveals that he knows who Matt is, as well as the fact that he's the vigilante. Matt storms off and when he's outside he practically has a panic attack and punches a brick wall, leaving a very large dent. Hiro helps to calm him down and the two go back to the café._

 _We cut to Archie, who has won the ticket to enter the next stage of the tournament, who throws it away because meeting Matthew is what he wanted. He senses Dantian (look to ending author's note of last chapter for description) being used and rushes towards it. It turns out to be Heisler killing the member of Murphy's Law. He panics that someone of her caliber is in San Fransokyo._

 _We go back to Matt and Hiro with the latter wrapping the hand-wounds of the former. Tadashi enters and is wondering why Hiro's back so early. He is flabbergasted by the fact that Hiro lost. Hiro says that he is going to make a better Megabot from scratch. As Matt leaves to attend something Momo texted him over, Hiro gives him the donut he was offered._

* * *

 **Chapter Five: The Second Deal**

* * *

Matt was in his dark, lonely lab, working on his project. The project, dubbed as 'Artificial Spinal-Motor-Nerve Electric Signal Conductor' or A.S.M.N.E.S.C, with the goal being what the title suggested. Matthew wanted to be able to create an artificial spinal cord that could send electronic signals directly from the brain to the body, therefore boycotting the actual spinal cord. He has had moderate success, he is able to control his own numbed extremities, though they are vague movements and they require most, if not all, of his concentration. His overall goal was to be able to restore movement and feeling to body parts that people can no longer feel, as well as create prosthetic limbs that can act as near perfect replacements to human limbs.

He was currently shirtless, but was wearing a part of his project on the left side of his torso and halfway down his left arm. Semi-circle metal bands went around the chest fabric and whole bands when around the arm. He was about to start the experiment before his phone went off. With meticulous difficulty he peeled the fabric off and put it on a mannequin. He walked over to his desk and picked up the upper-body weight he removed in order to start the experiment. He placed it against his chest and abdomen and ran his finger up the middle of it. It then snaked around his lower back. He proceeded to also put on the weights for his upper and lower arms.

He put on his white t-shirt and black leather jacket before checking his phone. It was a text from Momo reading; " _Cafeteria. Lunch. Socialise. NOW! Or death_." He looked at the clock and saw the time, knowing that if he wanted to get any good work done he should probably eat, and maybe have a strong coffee. What also helped was the fact that Momo was likely to do something even more annoying if he didn't comply. He put his hands in his pockets and made his way out of the lab.

Within minutes he'd made it to the cafeteria and was looking for Momo. It was easy to see her flamboyant hair seated at a booth by the windows. She was with Hiro's older brother, Gogo and the others who's names he didn't remember. He walked up to a coffee machine and made himself a cup with only a small amount of milk. He decided that he'd eat later. As he walked over to their booth Momo waved at him.

"You were wise to come, Mattheus." She smirked. "If you didn't I'd have to bring you sustenance to that dark, dank cave you call a lab." Matt took a seat next to Gogo, who was next to Fred on the left side of the booth. Honey Lemon, Tadashi and Wasabi sat on the right side and Momo was at the head of the table as she tended to have seating pretty much anywhere she went. He took a sip of his bitter drink, inwardly cringing at the taste, however it kept him aware so it was worth it.

"So," Honey Lemon said, breaking the silence that came over the group. "what are you working on in your lab Matthew?" She asked. He raised an eyebrow, slightly confused that someone took an interest in his work.

"I call it the 'Artificial Spinal-Motor-Nerve Electric Signal Conductor', or A.S.M.N.E.S.C for short." He answered, hoping it would be enough to satisfy their curiosity. It wasn't, that is if the expectant look on their faces were anything to go by. He internally sighed.

"I hope to create an artificial spinal cord that can help people gain back lost limbs, or create prosthetics that can actually be felt and used just as well as normal limbs." He explained.

"That's actually kinda cool," Tadashi said, the others nodding in agreement. Matt decided to ignore the alternate meaning to that statement. "but I gotta bring up the elephant in the room. How are people as young as you two attending this university? Hiro told me you're only 15 and you're 17. No offence or anything, but it took a lot, and I mean a lot for us to get in here." Matt glanced at Momo and she nodded discreetly.

"My family, back in Japan, are very well...connected over here, so getting a place once I earned it wasn't a problem. My mother attended the school when she lived here, which only made it easier."

"So you must be really smart then," Wasabi said. "to be able to get in all. Even if your reputation did help I know that the administration wouldn't let just anybody in."

"I suppose." Matt said, not certain as to how to respond to such praise.

"What about you Momo? How'd you get in?" Honey Lemon asked.

"Oh me? I was just good enough to get in on my technical prowess after I showed the Dean what I had." She said with unashamed, arrogant smirk. "You remember, don't you," She shot a sly look at Gogo. "Ethel?" Gogo squeezed the condiment out of the sandwich she had in her hand. She turned her head slowly to face Momo, who was still grinning madly. The both went silent, the others only looking at the two girls, expecting something, possibly violent, to happen.

"I do." Gogo said. "I also remember you being a show off, being excessive and overly flashy."

"What's life without a little flamboyance now and then?" She shrugged, taking a sip from her own drink. "Boring is what it is." Matt internally groaned as he was directly between the girls' starting contest.

"Anyway," Wasabi said, attempting to diffuse the tension. "what's it like being a body guard?"

"It's nothing too exciting, I just stand there and make sure nobody stabs the kid, and trust me, I've seen how cocky he can get and it's a wonder it hasn't been attempted more. No offence Tadashi." Matt answered.

"None taken, you forget, I live with Hiro."

"Wait, so people actually try to stab stab him?" Fred asked, excess wonder and a little bit of awe in his voice.

"Actually most of the time they just threaten to beat him, sometimes there's a knife pulled. One time someone actually pulled a gun on him." Tadashi stated choking as he said that, food getting caught in his throat.

"They what!?" The concerned older brother asked none too calmly.

"Relax," Momo said. "no two-bit asshat with a gun could possibly get a hit off of someone Matt's protecting, the guy's like a cheetah, if he's alert then nothing will get past him. He's a very fine specimen indeed."

"Why do I get the feeling you're comparing me to an animal?" Matt said, taking a gulp of his coffee.

"Cause I am." She giggled.

"Okay Matt I have to ask," Honey Lemon said. "do you dye your hair or is it natural?" She seemed excited for the answer.

"Natural, it's runs prominently in my family. It's almost guaranteed."

"And yet he wastes it completely!" Momo said, vibrant frustration obvious in her loud tone. Everyone but Matt and Gogo looked at her with confused expressions.

"Look at it!" She pointed intensely at Matt's hair. "It's a blank canvas, a beautiful, beautiful blank canvas, and every blank canvas should have its opportunities explored!" She started speaking in an awestruck voice, as if she had great admiration for the hair. "But he does nothing with it! Not a streak, not a tint, not a single hair follicle altered in any way." She ran her hand through Matt's hair, looking longingly at it, tears slightly brimming her eyes. "Such a waste." Matt gripped Momo's wrist and removed it from his head.

"If you could stop going on about my hair that'd be great." Matt said, taking another large gulp of coffee.

"Oh that's right, a head massage is a certain way to get you to sleep." Momo giggled. "But you still have absolutely no clue what you have! Do you have any idea how long I have to stay at a salon to get my dark brown hair it's beautiful electric pink, and these beautiful purple streaks?" She began stroking her own hair lovingly. "It's three and a half hours! You don't know how good you've got it." She said with a sour tone.

"Go cry me a river." Matt said. Momo glared sharply at him.

"You're mean."

"I don't exactly advertise compassion Momo."

"Hmph, you two argue like an old married couple." Gogo said, chewing her food with a small smirk. Momo glared at her while Matt didn't give half a damn.

"You really spend three and a half hours in a salon just for your hair?" Wasabi asked, ending the 30 second silence that followed Momo's passionate declaration.

"Every minute is worth it." She nodded.

"Hey Matt?" Tadashi said after a few minutes of typical chatter, most of which Matt stayed silent for.

"Yeah?" He answered, giving Tadashi his attention.

"Hiro won't tell me, but how much money does he make on an average night?"

"I don't really know. I've only been out with him twice, and one of those times was to enter that tournament. Although I can tell you that he made over a grand the first night we went out." Matt said. Tadashi just stared at nothing for a few seconds, his mouth agape, obviously learning the actual figures of Hiro's earnings for the first time.

"Tadashi?" Wasabi asked, snapping his fingers in front of Tadashi's face.

"Huh?" He said, snapping out of his daze. "Oh sorry, I just have to...think about a couple of things."

"I don't think he knew his little brother was loaded." Fred whispered loudly into Gogo's ear, bringing a laugh from the whole table sans Tadashi and Matt, the latter only smirking.

This sort of banter went on for a while, Momo generally being outspoken and exuberant and Matt only weighing in when asked something. After a while though, he began to feel drowsy, even more so than earlier. He brought his cup to his mouth only to discover that his coffee was gone.

 _'Oh brilliant.'_ He thought sarcastically. He put his elbow on the table and rested his jaw on his fist. He tried to concentrate on what Fred and Gogo were debating over, something about the practicality of a fire breathing dragon suit. Momo looked at her comrade and noticed that he was beginning to almost drift off. She reached her hand over and flicked his ear. The hand he was resting on reflexively snapped up to his ear, though Momo pulled her hand back just in time to avoid it. Matt shot an icy glare ar Momo. She oh-so-maturely stuck her tongue out with a cheeky grin.

Matt rubbed his eyes with his index finger and thumb. He then got out of the booth and mumbled;

"I'm going to get some more coffee."

As he was waiting for the cup to fill he looked at his reflection in a window. He only just noticed how exhausted he looked. There were dark circles underneath his eyes, he had a slouched, lazy posture, dishevelled hair and near unnoticeable stubble grew across his jaw and chin. How long had it been since he slept? About 2 and a half weeks if he did the math right. It was 5 days since he last accompanied Hiro and met that guy Archibald, 4 days before that was the first time he acted as bodyguard, 5 days before that was when Gogo approached Momo about the whole thing and 3 days before that was when he last slept, for a whopping 2 hours he might add. 17 days since he slept, and it was beginning to show.

He got his coffee and walked back to the table, Fred and Gogo still arguing. He took out his phone and looked at the time, thinking that it was about time to get back to work.

"Hey Momo," He said, she turned her head back to look at him. "I'm going back to my lab, I'll see you later."

"Sure, see ya, but be home before too late, it's gonna storm tonight." She replied.

"Right."

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

Hiro was in the garage behind his aunt's café, working on blueprints for his new bot on a large holographic screen.

"RRAAHH!" He exclaimed in frustration, pulling at his hair. He was frustrated at the fact that he couldn't think of anything new and effective to add to his new model of Megabot after five days of trying. He walked over to the desk and sat on the chair, turned on the desktop and opened up his emails. There was an invitation to a low key bot fight that only those with significant enough reputation could participate in. He sighed in longing, wishing he could attend so badly, but he didn't have a bot. In reality he could just make another Megabot and steam-roll everyone there in seconds, but he didn't want to do that. It was unsportsmanlike, well, as unsportsmanlike as anything could be in an illegal alleyway gambling ring. If he was going to steam-roll everyone he'd like to do it with something he wasn't using while he was humiliated. Besides, if he ever ran into the Archibald guy again he wanted to win, and to do that he'd need something better than Megabot.

He buried his head in his folded arms and was thinking to himself; _'What would Tadashi say?'_ It didn't help that Tadashi was at nerd school, in his need lab, with his nerd friends and nerd... Matthew. Hiro just had a realization!

"Tadashi said he won't help me with bot fights, but maybe Matt will!" He stood up, grabbed a flash drive and ran to the door of the garage and opened it, nearly knocking down his aunt, who, if her her raised fist was any indication, was about to knock on the door.

"I was just getting you for dinner." She said, putting her hands on her hips. "C'mon, whatever you were rushing to can wait until after my meatloaf is in your belly. Where are you going anyway? "

"Nowhere, and I'm okay Aunt Cass, I really gotta go." He began stepping backwards down the hall. "See ya- glugh-" When he turned around to walk forward Cass grabbed him by his hood, causing a gurgled choke to escape from his throat.

"Not a hope young man, you're gonna sit down, eat my food, tell me where you're going and why you are going there." She said sternly.

"But Aunt Cass I-"

"No buts Hiro. I don't know if you're going bot fighting or whatever but I _know_ you didn't call Matt, 'cause if you did you would've told me." She had a look on her face that showed she knew she had him. Hiro pouted childishly.

"Fine!" He said begrudgingly.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

Hiro was walking the now dark, cloudy streets of San Fransokyo with a lunchbox full of meatloaf in his hands. After he told Cass where he was going and what his intentions were she sanctioned the trip, as well as giving him food to give to Tadashi. While not liking Hiro getting back into the bot fighting business, she secretly hoped that by visiting the school Hiro might be tempted to attend. They were slim hopes but hopes nonetheless.

Since Hiro knew the layout of the streets fairly well he made it to the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology in decent time. He looked around in awe at the large campus as he walked through it. It was night time so any pictures or posters Hiro saw wouldn't look similar to the real thing, but even if it was daytime Hiro could tell that they don't do the actual buildings justice. A majority of the buildings were still very active, despite the late hour.

"Whoa." Hiro said when he saw the large bronze statute of the founder of S.F.I.T.

"Hey kid, you lost?" A young man approaching Hiro asked. He looked to be in his early twenties, had dark hair, was wearing a white button-up shirt, navy jeans and square rimmed glasses. He was also carrying a backpack on his back.

"No." He looked around. "A little, actually. I'm looking for the robotics lab."

"We've got more than a few of those kid, it's an institute of _technology_." The guy said, putting emphasis on the word technology.

"Right, right." Hiro chuckled, blushing a little. "The one I'm looking for has a guy called Matthew Raiju...something, do you know him." The man rubbed his chin with his thumb and index finger.

"Name sounds familiar, I've probably seen him around. Describe 'im to me."

"He's younger than usual, 15 I think. He has white hair, blue eyes and is about 5'7. Does this ring any bells?" The man thought for a few seconds.

"Yeah, I know of him, but I don't know where his lab is. Is there anyone else you know here that could help you, anyone more high profile?" The man asked.

"How about Tadashi Hamada?" Hiro asked.

"Ah yes, him I know. The lab he works in is just down the hall from mine, I was actually just heading there."

"Cool!" Hiro said. Hiro then began to follow the guy to the building housing his lab. "So what do you work on?"

"Chemical engineering of transuranium elements." He answered.

"Nice," Hiro said. "sounds dangerous though, transuranium elements are even more unstable than uranium."

"I'm well aware." The man said, slightly annoyed at Hiro's talkative nature. "I do study them for a living after all."

"Right." Hiro said. "Wait, if you're a chemist why are you in a robotics lab?"

"I'm collaborating with someone who _is_ a roboticist. Our two fields compliment one another."

The two soon arrived at a large, circular based building with a lot of the internal architecture visible. Outside it was a sign denoting it as the Ito Ishioka robotics lab.

"Whoa." Hiro said. "Who designed this?"

"This is one of the more modern laboratories on campus, others are over a 100 years old."

"This place is _that_ old?"

"Yup, most universities are." He replied blandly. They walked up the steps, through the doors and down the halls until they reached the guy's lab.

"Tadashi's lab is just down the hall and to the left. You can't miss it." He said.

"Thanks, whatever your name is." Hiro said.

"It's Ryan kid, and good luck to ya." Ryan said as he walked into his own lab. Hiro walked down the hall, looking through the widows of all the labs he passed. He saw many different inventions and innovations being worked on by solo students or groups. He walked up to the lab Ryan told him was Tadashi's and pulled open the door. Hiro's jaw dropped when he saw the multiple projects being worked on. They varied greatly, one of them being a cat with rocket boots, another was pingpong being played by robotic arms and there was even a mechanical shark floating around.

Looking around he couldn't see his brother anywhere so he walked over to a random person. She was about Tadashi's age, Korean and was wearing a black leather bikers suit. She was putting a slim, yellow bike on a suspended cord and taking off the wheels.

"Hey, 'scuse me?" Hiro said. It was then he decided to forego his brother altogether. "Do you know where Matthew Raiju-something is?" She turned to face him and blew a bubble with her gum.

"Yeah, why do you need to know?"

"Just know the guy, I wanna ask him something." He shrugged. "Also if you see Tadashi Hamada give him this." He pushed the lunchbox into her hands."

"Um, okay." She looked at the lunchbox before opening it slightly. "Meatloaf? Why'd you have meatloaf for Tadashi?"

"I just do, now can you please tell me where Matt is?" Hiro asked, beginning to get, and sound, irritable. The girl raised an eyebrow at Hiro.

"Wait here." She then walked off. Hiro stood there, mouth slightly agape as his patience was being tested. Hiro leaned against the wall with his arms folded in a huff, his brows furrowed in annoyance. He looked at the bike the girl was working on and walked up to it. He tapped the hind wheel and it started spinning faster than he expected it to, causing him to recoil in surprise for a second before getting a closer look at the thing. He saw that there was nothing actually connecting the wheels to the bike.

"Electro magnetic suspension." He mumbled.

"Hey!" Hiro jumped when he heard the girl come back and snap at him. As he turned to face her he said;

"You gave me a fucking heart atta-." He quickly shut his mouth when he saw his big brother standing behind the girl. Said big brother had a very unimpressed scowl on his face. "Oh hey big brother." Hiro said, putting on an overly friendly voice, as well as smiling in such a way that guilt was plastered all over his face.

"So this is your kid brother." Gogo said nonchalantly as she walked past Hiro and up to her bike, tearing the hind wheel from its suspension when she neared it.

"Yeah, it is." Tadashi answered, breaking the intense glare that he was directing at Hiro, causing the younger to internally sigh in relief. "Gogo this is Hiro, Hiro, Gogo Tomago." Gogo looked at Hiro and eyed him up and down.

"S'up." She said with a nod. "So what's your reason for wanting to see Matthew Raijūmura?"

"What, Matthew!?" Tadashi said, sounding a strange combination of concern and frustration. Concern because he wasn't completely sure of the kind of person Matt was and frustration because if Hiro wanted to see Matt then it more than likely had something to do with bot fighting. "What do you need to see him for?"

"For secret reasons." Hiro said in a way only a cheeky younger sibling could say to their older siblings. Tadashi glared at him. Hiro glared back. This went on for another minute or so before Gogo decided to intervene.

"Matt's on the other side of campus, in the Mayuri-Aporro-Tucker lab, first floor, room 34. It's a single occupant room, there's only two or three of those so he shouldn't be too hard to find." She said. Tadashi looked betrayed while Hiro was elated.

"Thank you!" Hiro said as he quickly ran to exit the room.

"Wait!" Tadashi said, reaching out to grab Hiro by the hood but missing by a mere two inches causing him to stumble forward, allowing Hiro to make his escape unhindered. He stood straight and glared at Gogo.

"Please, we both know that no matter how hard you try, you will _never_ out glare me. I will glare back and you will cry. Just remember what happened to Fred." Gogo threatened. Tadashi dropped the glare but exhaled on annoyance.

"Fine." He said in defeat, sauntering back to his project while Gogo continued with hers.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

It took Hiro a while but eventually he found the building he was looking for. It wasn't as cool or modern looking as the Ito Ishioka building but it inspired a sort of intellectual awe that made one think of the brilliant minds that have passed through here. It was 4 stories tall, was made of aged white brick, had 3 towers extending from the roof, 1 in the back right, back left and fore left, had beautiful carvings etched into the masonry and was denoted as the Mayuri-Aporro-Tucker building by large characters carved over the entrance . He walked up the limestone steps and entered quietly through the door. His feet hit marble tiles as he looked around in awe at inside architecture. Hiro wasn't exactly one to admire such things but even _he_ had to admit the building was as beautiful inside as it was outside.

He saw a broad flight of stairs to the right of the main entrance and walked up to them. A metal plate on the wall read the numerals: XXVI - XXXV. If Hiro's memory served him right then those were the Roman numerals for 26 - 35. He walked up the stairs and again looked into the labs he walked by. They all had older students, in and around their mid twenties, all looking to be much more docile, for lack of a better term, than the other lab, which was occupied by rambunctious and slightly over the top teenagers. Hiro preferred the other building to the one he was in now.

He found the door marked 34 easily enough. He knocked three times before he heard a shuffling from the other side of the door. He heard the door being unlocked from the other side. The door handle fell and the door swung open.

"Hiro?" Matt said, clearly surprised by Hiro's presence. "Any reason for this surprise visit?" He leaned against the door frame.

"Heh-heh," Hiro chuckled bashfully. "I was hoping that if you weren't too busy that maybe, you might be able to, hopefully...perhaps help me with building a new bot for bot fighting?"

"Ha-ha." Matt chuckled. "Sure thing. Come on in." He gestured into his lab with his thumb. "I wasn't gonna be making any progress tonight anyway." He walked into the room and Hiro followed, closing the door behind him. Hiro looked around, glancing over the many posters and mannequins.

"So what do you do?" Hiro asked.

"I call it the 'Artificial Spinal-Motor-Nerve Electric Signal Conductor'." He answered. "It's riveting."

"I'd imagine so." Hiro said. "So any ideas?"

"It's been 13 seconds Hiro, I'm good but that good." He said. Matt walked up to his desk and folded up a project to be and put it away in a drawer. He then brought up a holographic screen and filed away what he had active. He sat down in a swivel chair and turned to Hiro. "Let's brainstorm."

"Hm..." Hiro said, hoisting himself up onto a table and sitting cross legged. "I want something that can beat that Archibald guy," He said. "fast, durable, maybe a little physics defying." He smirked.

"I assume you have some sort of base file of your original Megabot, something we can build up from." Matt said.

"Yeah, I have it here." Hiro took a flash drive from his pocket.

"Let's get this started." Matt said, taking the flash drive.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

Archibald was sitting on top of a skyscraper with his legs dangling over the edge of the roof. He slurped from a smoothie he had in his hand and when it was empty he threw it behind him.

"Ahh, refreshing." He said, putting down his hood and standing up. He put his right foot behind him and faced his body towards the right. He turned his head forward and extended his left hand straight out in front of him, touched his middle, ring and pinkie finger to his palm and stuck out his thumb and index finger. He then closed his right hand into a fist and extended his index and middle finger. He slowly brought his right hand up next to his left wrist, leaving only an inch between them.

Suddenly his left hand began to glow a bright ruby red. The light became more intense and began to flicker, making a fire like aura dance, causing his shadow to flail about behind him. The light died down until only his blood red skinned hand remained. A red crystalline arch began to form from the top and bottom of his hand. It turned in towards his body as it grew. What was formed in the end looked like a archer's bow with many swirl engravings on the arms. A red string went from one end of the bow to the other, going through his forearm.

A silver, spiralled cone about two inches long formed in the inch gap between his fingers. He drew his right hand back until it was at his temple. A silver trail thinner than the cone followed his fingers, forming a shining arrow. He inhaled through his nose and then exhaled through his mouth. He released the arrow by loosening his right hand. The force of the release caused a powerful backlash of wind, billowing his clothes and hair. The arrow flew, straight and true, at gale speeds between the buildings, through open windows and across great lengths until it hit its target.

At the end of Archibald's arrow now was the corpse of a woman who has been on his hit list for quite some time. However there will be more on that particular subject later.

"Now that that's been taken care of, I can focus on priority A." In less than a second he had another arrow formed and turned on his heel to face the person behind him. "Now to deal with you." The person was wearing a blue hooded cloak, a black face-mask and light armour battle underneath. With a flick of his wrists a pair of wrist blades emerged from his sleeves. The man dashed at Archie and Archie let another arrow fly.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

In Matt's lab he and Hiro had been brainstorming for hours as to how to improve Megabot to the point it could destroy Archie's in their next encounter. They decided to incorporate Matt's brain wave transmitting tech into the bot, allowing all controls to be done without a remote.

"-and with that improved you should be able to match the speed Archibald showed in the ring." Matt said. "What do you think?" He turned his head to look at Hiro, who was sitting in his swivel chair at his desk. What he saw made him sigh. Hiro had fallen asleep, for how long Matt didn't know, at Matt's desk with his head buried in his folded arms. Matt walked over to his and poked his head a couple times. "Wake up." All that did was make the boy mumble something incoherent and shuffle a little. Hiro then turned his head to the side to face Matt. Even Matt, with his incomparably dismal outlook on things in general, had to admit that the kid was pretty friggin cute when he slept. The gap between his upper incisors only emphasised that fact. However, no matter how cute he was, there was no way Matt was carrying Hiro home. Tadashi had texted earlier saying that he was going home and if Hiro didn't go with him then he could make his own way back.

Matt turned to the holo-screen and filed everything they had worked on away. He saved a copy of everything before then saving it to Hiro's flash drive and taking it out of the port on his desktop. He then walked back over to Hiro and grabbed his ear, tugging it lightly.

"Get up kid."

"Come on Aunt Cass 5 more minutes." He mumbled, raising his hand to try and bat Matt's away. It didn't work, actually it only served to make Matt grip tighter and give his ear a twist.

"Yow!" Hiro yelped, quickly waking up.

"Enjoy your nap Sleeping Beauty?" Matt asked sarcastically. Hiro shot him a glare as he rubbed his ear.

"You could've been gentler ya know." He quipped.

"I tried but you're a deep sleeper kid. Now move your ass, it's gone eleven." Matt said. Hiro looked at the clock, surprised that it was the time it was.

"Fine." Hiro said. When he stood up he yawned loudly and stretched his arms upwards, showing his lower abdomen. "My flash drive?" He asked.

"Here." Matt said, handing it to him. "I backed everything up to my computer just in case you lose the flash drive."

"Thanks. I guess I'm going home now." Hiro said. He walked towards the door but stopped when Matt put his hand on his shoulder.

"It's dangerous at this time. I'll walk you home."

"Thanks but I can look after myself." Hiro shrugged off Matt's hand and offer and put his hands in his hoodie pockets. Matt considered letting Hiro make his own way home, and he probably would have if he didn't know that Murphy's Law were also targeting teenage boys as well as teenage girls. The risk was small but it was still there.

"I insist. Besides, I was going home myself. God only knows what Momo will do if left alone long enough." He then walked over to the door far right corner of his room and opened the door to a small closet room. There were even more mannequins in the small room, as well as a dusty futon on the ground Matt could claim to have used if ever questioned about his unusually frequent all nighters. He walked over to a mannequin that he used as a coat rack and took two coats off of it.

He walked back out to Hiro who was leaning next to the door. "Here, wear this, from the sound of it it's already raining and it's only gonna get heavier as we walk." He said, tossing the jacket at Hiro.

"Thanks." Hiro said, catching the jacket.

As the two walked the rainy streets Matt realised just how right Momo was when she said it was gonna storm tonight. He could feel the water droplets pelting down, hitting his face and soaking through his pants and shoes. It was the sound he disliked more than anything. While most others would find the sound of rainfall calming or serene, it only stirred feelings of discomfort and anxiety in Matt. Also unhelpful was the fact that he disliked being cold and wet at the same time. Being cold he handle without a problem, being wet was tolerable if nothing else, but being both simultaneously just make him want to knock himself out. Though with some effort he repressed those feelings deep inside, to be later vented out whilst cutting down human trafficking scum.

Matt looked at Hiro and saw that the boy's hood refused to stay over his head, causing him to be nearly blinded by the ferocity of the rain despite trying to block it with his arms. Matt reached out and pulled Hiro's hood over his head for him. Hiro moved his hands and grabbed the hood tightly in a death grip to keep where it was. Matt kept a grip on Hiro's bicep to guide him before he the wind knocked him over.

They eventually reached the café. At the door Hiro fumbled get the keys of his pocket. The rain and two-sizes-too-big jacket didn't help him. The door opened and they walked in, Hiro quickly shut the door since he knew his aunt wouldn't like the café floors being wet before they even opened tomorrow.

"Thanks for walking me," Hiro said, taking of the jacket and putting it on a coat hook. "you can stay a while, the rain doesn't look to be getting any lighter." Matt put his hand on the door knob.

"Thanks, but I'll be fine walking home." And as if to spite him, a flash of light illuminated the sky for a brief second before disappearing, followed closely by a rumble of thunder. Hiro, slightly paler, said nothing, he only reached out and locked the door, daring Matt to unlock it. Matt sighed.

"Fine, I'll stay a while." Hiro smirked smugly. Even though Matt could easily brave a storm head on, quite literally, he couldn't really tell Hiro 'It's fine I've been hit by lightning before, all is good', now could he?

"Come on, I'll show you upstairs." Hiro said, kicking his shoes off. Matt followed suit and took off his coat and shoes. Hiro led him up to the two story apartment above the café. When they were in the living room Hiro turned on the lights and told Matt to make himself comfortable while he went up to his room.

Matt sat on the couch and decided to use the time to tell Momo that he was gonna be late.

 **'I'm gonna be late, Hiro insisted I start at his place while it storms.'**

 **'*stay'**

It took a minute to get his response.

 **'Fine, if something comes up I expect you to make up some sort of excuse to get out of there'.**

 **'I will. See you whenever.'**

 **'Bubbye.'**

He waited for Hiro to come back down. When he did he was wearing pajama shorts and a white shirt a couple sizes too big.

"I said make yourself comfortable not act like the King of England is about to enter." Hiro said jokingly. Matt couldn't help his fixed posture, the metal he kept around his torso kept him rigid and alert yet still able to move freely. Although he could give Hiro and excuse he had already used.

"I have a back brace, remember?"

"Oh right, sorry." Hiro said. He then sat down on a very comfortable looking chair. "Can you ever take it off?"

"Sometimes, not for too long if I'm walking around but it always comes off when I sleep." Matt lied through his teeth, though to be fair there was some truth there.

"Cool." He said, not sure where to go from there. "So...wanna watch some tv?"

"Okay." Matt said. Hiro picked up the remote and turned on the tv. Matt vaguely recognised the show that was on as the one Momo loved.

"Last time, on 'Harpys'." The narrator said. Dramatic music started playing as a recap stated showing.

"I do what I must for my daughter." A tall blonde haired woman said, holding a gun up to an unseen person.

"So wait, Rachel and Aoibhe are together now?" A confused teenage boy asked a panicking teenage girl.

"Who's the father Gabi?" A different teenage boy asked a busty girl crying against a door.

"By the week's end," A young, dark haired woman said. "Simon and Megan will be dealt with, and Vika will be completely loyal to us." The music climaxed before cutting to black.

"Aaamaaazing Grace, how sweet the sound." An eerily beautiful feminine voice sung.

"Boring!" Hiro declared, switching the station. "Let's see if anything actually good's on."

* * *

 **And that is a wrap for this chapter, it's about 6400 words excluding both author's notes. If anyone has any questions just ask in a review and I'll answer as best I can. I don't think the next chapter will be up until mid January because I have exams right up until Christmas and after that I'm just gonna want to cool down for a while.**

 **Not much to say right now so...**

 **I bid you adieu.**


	6. The Archer

**Published: 18th January 2016**

 **I'm sorry that this chapter took a little longer to publish than I said, but I got a PS4 and a Batman Arkham Knight. I don't need to say anymore there.**

 **I forgot to mention last chapter but a very basic layout of Matt's lab is on my Deviantart page, as well as a basic visual on Archie's bows. Check them out if you're interested.**

* * *

 _ **Summary of Last Chapter:**_ _Matt's in his lab and is invited (with no choice) by Momo to leave his lab and go socialise with her. When he goes to the cafeteria it turns out that Momo is with Tadashi, Gogo, Wasabi, Fred and Honey Lemon. After a while Matt went back to his lab._

 _Meanwhile an uninspired Hiro comes to the realisation that if he wants to improve his bot then he should consult with Matt. He leaves with some meatloaf for Tadashi and goes to San Fransokyo Tech. While there he meets a chemist named Ryan who shows him to Tadashi's lab._

 _In the lab Hiro approaches Gogo, not knowing she was one of Tadashi's close friends, and asks her where Matt is and to give Tadashi the lunch. She leaves and comes back with Tadashi a minute later. Tadashi is annoyed at Hiro, not only because he cursed at Gogo, because he found out via Matt's slip of the tongue that Hiro makes about a grand after a night of bot fighting. Hiro leaves before Tadashi can lecture him._

 _At Matt's lab Hiro asks him for help and he agrees, stating that he wasn't gonna make any progress anyway._

 _Meanwhile Archie is on top of a skyscraper and shoots a Dantian formed arrow at someone far off in the distance. After that he turns to fight a hooded assailant._

 _After a few hours Hiro has fallen asleep and Matt wakes him. Because of the gale force storm occurring Matt walks Hiro home. He also feared that if Hiro went alone that they'd be a chance of him being abducted by Murphy's Law. While there Hiro insists that Matt stays for a while, at least until the storm lets up. He begrudgingly agrees and stays for a while._

* * *

 **Chapter 6: The Archer**

* * *

Archie was running across a rooftop in the near torrential rain, jumping expertly from one to the other. He was being followed by three dark-blue hooded figures, one was bleeding from the shoulder and had wrist blades coming from his sleeves. The other two were unharmed. Of the other two one was holding a pair of silver trench knives backhanded and the other, a petite bodied person with a slight cleavage that showed it to be a woman, a large, double sided battle-axe whose handle was two metres long.

Archie leapt towards the next building, which was two stories shorter than the one he was just on. He formed a dark blue bow whose arms were perfectly straight, two feet long, cylindrical and ended in a gradual point. The skin on his now flat hand was the same shade of blue and many lines looking like circuitry went up his forearm. Upon landing he turned on his heel, unimpeded by the wet concrete, and aimed up at the assailants. A sharp, dull grey arrow as straight as the arms formed, seemingly by itself. It extended from the heel of his hand to 9 inches passed his the tip of his middle finger. He pulled it back with his clawed index and middle fingers. He aimed at the one with the wrist blades, letting the arrow fly. It wasn't as fast as the one used by the red bow but at such close range you'd be hard pressed to avoid it.

The assailant was mid-air, and therefore unable to move out of the arrow's trajectory. He brought up his wrist blades to block but the arrow pierced right through them, without shattering them and then went right through his skull and into the wall of the building behind him. He hit the wall of the building Archie was standing on with a wet, cracking thud.

The trench knife user landed landed in front of Archie, and before he could form another arrow they cut off the arms of his bow. Archie hastily leapt backwards and disintegrated what remained of the blue bow. An orange bow, this time looking more like a modern bow that'd be used competitively, formed in its place. It also had two strings instead of one, one of the an inch farther back than the other. This time, instead of being attached to his hands he held it straight out in front of him. Also unlike the previous bows, his hand was left unchanged.

He hooked his middle and index finger around the outer string and pulled back, the inner string mimicking the movement. In an instant a silvery arrow with a flight and arrowhead formed. It rested on the bow, ready to be fired. Archie twitched the outer string back a centimetre, causing the inner string to launch the arrow forward with the same speed as the blue bow. Trench-Knives brought their blades up and deflected the arrow, cutting it into three pieces in the process. It disintegrated into glowing blue dust before it even hit the ground.

The inner string had snapped back into place as soon as it had released the arrow and another formed in less than 1/4 of a second. With a twitch that one was released, aimed at the axe user. She blocked it with the blade of the axe.

Archie bent his legs and leapt backwards, rapidly firing arrows at the two. Upon landing on the next building he was temporarily blinded by the unexpected flash of lightning that illuminated the sky. That momentary distraction was all it took for Trench-Knives gain ground and slash at his back. He yelled in pain as his blood spilled. It wasn't a very deep cut so he managed to manoeuvre himself out of Trench-Knives' striking area, though he needed to abandon his bow. It didn't matter though, as it disintegrated into blue particles within seconds.

 _'Dammit!'_ Archie cursed. _'That trench knife user has the speed of at least a Class-4, and judging from the choice of weapon they possesses wind Dantian.'_ He focused his gaze at the axe user. _'Judging by the size of that weapon that axe user probably has earth Dantian.'_ He turned and dashed to the building across street in an instant, a strong gust of wind leftin his wake. The other two were quick to follow. _'If I'm gonna fight seriously I'm gonna have to get out of the city. The docks should do, no prying eyes and only a low risk of collateral damage.'_ With that he altered his course towards the docks with a new, heightened speed, each step leaving a gust of wind behind it.

Within minutes the docks were in sight. Archie saw no activity so he stopped between mountains of large containers. The orange bow formed again and another arrow formed. The two assailants landed before him so he began to rapidly fire a barrage of arrows at them. They separated and began to flank him. He decided to focus on Trench-Knives, as their movements were more unpredictable than Battle-Axe's. He began to run backwards and kept firing. He leapt up and latched onto a container, though it was made a little more difficult due to the rain. He scrambled to the top and jumped over to the next pile. He shot arrows at the wire bindings keeping the containers together, causing a sort of avalanche.

 _'That won't hold them for long. I don't want to have to risk using this but they won't go down with anything else.'_ He thought. He then took his Spherebot out of his hoodie pocket. He gripped it tight in his left hand. It then split down the middle, extending so that he had a grip on a handle. The two hemispheres that were on either end expanded down to his elbow, ending a point while the end at his fist was rounded. The two sides tightened around his forearm, conforming to it's shape.

His fist began to glow a dull white, an almost fire-like aura emitting. He held his arm outright, similar to what he did with previous bows. He then unfurled his fist and when he did the white aura shot both upwards and downwards. It remained to look like fire for a few seconds before settling. The ends began to get narrower and the last foot of the arms turned inwards at about 30 degree angles. The flames began to burn brighter for an instant before burning out, leaving a pale, almost white, blue metal in its place. Archie's new bow was almost as long as he was tall, had flawless, clean and smooth edges and had red vein like stripes on either side of its arms.

Down at the pile of containers, the two assailants were emerging. Trench-Knives was in the forefront, using their weapons, whose edges were glowing bright green and were elongated to over a foot long, to cut their way out.

Archie didn't hesitate in placing his right hand on the outside of his grip and drawing it back quickly. Now resting on his bow was a long, green tipped arrow with two green lines going down its black body and a perpendicular figure of 8 at the end. He hooked his two fingers into the bow and drew it back to his temple. Meanwhile Trench-Knives raised their glowing blades into air and slashed down, shooting a large X-shaped at Archie. Archie released his arrow, which was sent flying at speeds surpassing the arrow fired by the red bow.

The two attacks met midway. Archie's arrow just went through the centre of the X and continued uninterrupted on its path to Trench-Knives. They brought their weapons up to block it, though it did no good. Upon impact the arrow exploded, sending vectors of sharp wind in nearly every direction. For an instant the rain made a sort of dome before the attack died down. Trench-Knives was now naught but a bloody mass of pulp on the ground, the red liquid already being washed away by the rain. Before the attack became fatal Battle-Axe had the sense to move away before she got killed, though she wasn't uninjured. She had a laceration on her left hip which was bleeding lightly, though she acted as if it wasn't there.

"I was wrong, he only had the speed of a Class-5, and everything else was Class-6 at the most." Archie said, mostly to himself. "But what about you?" He asked Battle-Axe. "You not only saw that your friend stood no chance against my attack, but you also managed to get back with minimal injury." He smirked. "Tell me, how good are you?" He aimed his bow at her. She in turn held out her large weapon, wielding it with ease as if it was just a wooden pole.

Battle-Axe disappeared in a blur. Archie's eyes widened at witnessing such a speed. His instincts kicked in and he dodged to the left. Good thing too, as the axe would have been cutting him right down the middle had he stayed put. He turned on his heel and pointed the end of his bow point blank at Battle-Axe. He smirked for not even a second because before he could begin to form an arrow the axe hit the container he was standing on, unexpectedly causing devastating damage and splitting the entire column down the middle. He leapt back before he fell with the debris and landed on the ground a dozen metres away.

Another arrow formed in the bow, this one not needing Archie to gesture. It was just red crystal with a pointed end. It fired, then divided off into many more. Battle-Axe either avoided or blocked them, deflecting the last one with the blade of her axe. She was quick in charging at Archie, who began to fire more arrows, these ones green and firing at a much more rapid pace. Battle-Axe avoided most, though one lodged itself in her shoulder. She was undeterred and decided to get up close and personal with Archie. He took exception to that and began to run to the side, not ceasing in his barrage of arrows.

Battle-Axe disappeared in a blur again. Archie cursed, his instincts reflexively making him turn around and hold up his bow. It was just in time too, as Battle-Axe was swinging her weapon downwards. Sparks flew and the blade hit Archie's grip.

 _'Dammit! How the hell is she this fast?'_ He asked himself. _'The Dantian levels she's giving off are no greater than Class-5, not nearly enough to have mastered the wind-jump to such a level.'_ While keeping her blade at bay, Archie observed her body, trying to discover anything that might give away her secret. He immediately noticed that the two wounds he had given her were no longer there, the one dealt by the wind arrow and the arrow he lodged in her shoulder. Weirder than that was the fact that her clothes also seemed to have repaired themselves.

Archie pushed her back and she landed a few feet away. She disappeared in a blur again. Archie knew the routine by now so he quickly formed a red arrow, spun on his heel and released it. It hit what he expected it to. Battle-Axe was right there, weapon held high above her head, an arrow embedded in her chest. She spit up blood, as shown by the red dampening on her fabric face mask. Even so she swung downwards, though Archie easily avoided by stepping back. The head of the axe was buried in the ground, so when she let go it stayed where it was. She pulled away her mask, most likely so she wouldn't drown in her own blood. Archie smirked. The woman's eyes widened. Archie could guess the reason why.

"Wondering why it's heat-" He was cut off mid-explanation when he sensed another Dantian source suddenly popping up to his right. He bent backwards, and when his upper body was perpendicular to the ground he saw an all-to-familiar axe pass by where his neck was not a second earlier. When the axe passed by he bent back and jumped backwards. He formed another arrow, this one black with a triangular head. His eyes narrowed at what he saw. It was Battle-Axe, a second one, with the wound dealt by his wind arrow where it should be. Glancing momentarily back to the one he just shot, he saw that she had the wound in her shoulder, right where he hit with the weak green arrow.

 _'The hell's going on!'_ He thought. He didn't have time to ponder as the second Battle-Axe disappeared again, followed slowly by the heavily wounded one. What perplexed him the most at that moment was that their Dantian signatures completely vanished. Archie was a person who could be rather vain at times, so when he excelled at something, everyone in a 3 mile radius would hear about it. Something he excelled greatly at was the sensing, locating and differentiating of Dantian signatures and sources. He was so proficient that most Class-3s, and even some Class-2s, would be envious of his aptitude, he was only a Class-4 after all. This meant that if he couldn't sense an individual's Dantian at such a close range, he gets a bit peeved off.

He sensed a signature pop up suddenly to his left and right. It was Battle-Axe, 2 of her/them/it at least, and they were prepared to swing at him, one going for his head and the other for his legs. He held up his Tempest Bow to block the head shot and quickly formed a solitary arm of his Red-Bow on his right arm. The arm was reversed however, and was much narrower in relation to his arm. It acted as pseudo-blade, to block the leg shot. Both axes hit his shields and, Archie would testify for this, those women/things hit hard. It was putting great strain on his arms to have to block a strong attack each.

The red bow arm was beginning to crack under the pressure since it was formed too quickly and was not intended to act as a shield. He grit his teeth and pushed with his left arm to parry that axe. It only took a split second to form a strong enough arrow and fire it at the attacker on his right. She relented her assault in order to get out of the way Archie quickly turned and used his red bow arm to slash at Battle-Axe. He retreated back and got a good look at the two. The one that went for his head was the one injured by the wind arrow and the one that went for his legs was still unscathed.

 _'So that's it.'_ Archie thought. _'There's more than one of them. They're not fast, they're just really good at disappearing and hiding their Dantian. When one of them blurs they don't move, another just appears and attacks.'_ Archie placed his hand on the grip of the bow and drew it back, forming another wind-arrow. He pulled it back to his temple. The two blurred away. He wasn't fooled though, he released his arrow anyway, aiming it roughly between where the two were standing. What happened, or didn't happen, was that it was as if no-one was standing there at all, no bodies, no blood, the effect of the arrow just destroyed the ground and nothing else.

"Shit!" He cursed in realisation, and not a second later an axe was brought down onto his left shoulder. Blood splattered and sprayed, even more so when she pulled the axe away. _'Crap, if I didn't have a hardened layer of Dantian coating my body then I would've lost my whole arm.'_ He looked over his shoulder and saw Battle-Axe, the one with an arrow sticking out of her chest, with her weapon raised high above her head and a deranged look on her face. He used his legs to propel himself forward before the axe hit the ground. He began to run, fast, into the labyrinth like maze of stacked containers. In the distance he heard a ship's horn go off. "Dammit!" He cursed through grit teeth.

He looked at the wound on his shoulder and saw that the bleeding had lessened and that the blood was already beginning to clot. He tried to move his left arm but it was currently very difficult to move. "Fuck." He cursed for the third time. The arms of the tempest-bow began to dissolve into blue particles. He took the grip from his left hand and made it revert back to its spherical form and then he pocketed it. He held up his right hand and began to concentrate. Within seconds half of the orange bow had formed. It was only one of the arms, with the handle of course, but this one was far more durable and had an extremely sharp edge. He held backhanded.

He waited. He cleared his mind and focused on the environment around him, listening to the pitter-patter of the rain on the metallic shipping containers as it was washing away the blood from his wound. In an instant he reacted, and in a flash of sparks his blade blocked the incoming side swing of an axe. It was the uninjured one. They exchanged blows a couple more times before she blurred away. He could feel another attack from the left. He stepped back only a foot to avoid the attack. The axe was now embedded in the ground and before she could withdraw it Archie stepped on the base of head to keep it pinned. He slashed out with his sickle-like weapon. Battle-Axe only just moved back to avoid it, but Archie did something different. Using a technique similar to what Trench-Knives used before his splattery of a death, he used wind Dantian to extend the reach of the blade. It succeeded in cutting directly across Battle-Axe's throat, damn near beheading her. She fell to her knees, wobbled a bit and then to the ground, bleeding to death in a matter of seconds.

Archie didn't let his guard down, and in only a matter of seconds he felt the abrupt presence of another Battle-Axe. Upon blocking her attack Archie saw that she still hadn't gotten that arrow out of her chest.

"Still haven't gotten rid of my gift I see." He said with a smirk as their respective weapons continued to grind together. "That'll be the death of you." He said darkly, with a cockier smirk. As soon as he said that Battle-Axe's eyes widened on pain, just like before. Her force weakened so he pushed her off. She stumbled back and her weapon fell from her grasp, hitting the ground with a thud. She pulled at it, trying to get it out.

"That won't work." Archie said. "When I first shot it into you it heated to such a degree that it fused to your flesh, that's why you stopped bleeding so quickly." She looked at his, shooting him a seething glare. He turned away. "Oh, and just so you know, the reason is heating up now is because the tip is about to explode." As he walked away Battle-Axe's pulling became more frantic. "Boom." Archie said. With that many tiny, red fragments burst from Battle-Axe's body, killing her undoubtedly.

 _'Now if only the last one would show herself. At least I hope she's the last one.'_ He said to himself.

A brief moment later he felt her Dantian signature appear on a wall of containers to his left.

"There you are." He said with false cheer, as if he just found an elusive pet after a while of searching. She just held her axe out to the side and then slowly pointed it forward, then down towards Archie. The edge of the blade burst into yellow flames, beautiful flames that looked as it sunflower petals were dancing to an equally beautiful balled. She then held the axe up high and swung down with great force, sending a cascade of flames propelling at Archie. His face fell at the unexpected ferocity of the attack, as well as the sudden spike in Battle-Axe's Dantian level. He jumped to the left, landing on his injured shoulder and rolling another few feet. He quickly composed himself. He saw that the attack scorched the ground he was just standing on and sent a trail of fire across the ground and up the opposite wall of containers.

 _'These bitches are just full of nasty surprises.'_ He thought, feeling the heat of the flames lick his skin. _'Dammit, that's Class-4 Dantian, and in my state I won't be able to fight her, not without my left arm.'_

Battle-Axe then jumped off the containers, flipped mid-air and landed in a crouch. She then charged at Archie, who in turn held up his blade. She swiftly swung at Archie, who side stepped. She swung a few more times, Archie narrowly avoiding every time, though he was sweating due to being in close proximity to the still dancing flames. He blocked a downward swing with his half-bow. He managed to keep her back for a few seconds but he began to be forced back, his knees began to buckle. With extra force she pushed him back a few feet, onto his back. The fall opened the wound on his shoulder again. Battle-Axe raised her weapon, the yellow flames blazing again.

 _'Motherfucker!'_

The blaze intensified, brightening to a bright white. The heat of the flames evaporated all rain that fell within a foot of it, causing a blanket of steam to begin to coat the area.

"Ora morire," She said, a thunderclap sounding behind her, as if to emphasise the finality of her action. She spoke in a language Archie didn't recognise. "Americana." Archie shut his eyes and with swift movement blood was splattered over the concrete ground, quickly being washed away by the heavily falling rain.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

Matt was still sitting on the couch in Hiro's house. He had his elbow on the arm of the couch and rested his jaw on his fist. He was watching some tv show with the boy. Apparently it was really popular but Matt didn't really know, he wasn't the kind of person the keep up with pop culture. Momo did enough of that for the both of them. If he did watch anything it was only because Momo badgered him into it, and even then it was usually something from the 2000s that no-one but her remembered. He looked at the time and saw that it was well past midnight, though the storm still raged on.

"Shouldn't you go to sleep Kid?" He asked Hiro.

"Pfft," Hiro said. "I don't need to be anywhere tomorrow, I can sleep all I want then."

Matt accepted the answer though doubted its intelligence. Then again he wasn't in any sort of position to lecture anyone on sleeping habits. He rubbed his eyes with his index finger and thumb and let out a small yawn.

"Hey Hiro, do you have any coffee here?" Matt asked.

"It's a café. What do you think?" Hiro said snarkily.

"Noted." Matt said dryly. "You don't mind if I have some, do you?"

"It's cool." Hiro said. "I can do it for you if you want. I don't mean to brag but I'm _quite_ the barista." He smirked.

"It's fine, keep watching your show."

"Kay."

In the kitchen Matt was waiting for the kettle to boil when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. It was a text from Momo.

 **CODE RED! CODE RED! CODE CRIMSON RUBY SCARLET MAHOGANY RED!**

He rolled his eyes at her exaggerated words.

 **An unfamiliar ship's been seen mooring at the docks, it refuses to identify itself and has the emblem of an Irish company on it. Not just any Irish company, THE Irish company, as in the one used as a front by Murphy's Law. Last time a ship like this was reported there was a dramatic increase in Murphy's Law activity. It's a safe bet to say that's them again so you need to get your ass in gear, get home, suit up and go stop motherfuckers before they can do anything. AND BE QUICK ABOUT IT!**

Matt groaned as the kettle finished boiling. _'It needs to be done though. *sigh*.'_ He left the kettle and went back into the next room to Hiro.

"That was quick." Hiro said, turning his head back.

"Sorry Kid, but something came up, Momo texted me saying she needed me ASAP so I have to go." He explained.

"Oh," Hiro looked a little crestfallen. "it's fine, though will you be okay, I mean the storm's still going strong?"

"I'll be fine." Matt answered simply. "See ya." He began to walk towards the door.

"Wait!" Hiro said, getting onto his knees on the chair and reaching out to Matt. Matt looked back and Hiro looked a little embarrassed because of the small outburst. "Will we, um, be able to maybe work on Ultrabot again tomorrow?" He asked looking bashful.

Matt thought about it for a second before remembering that he'd more than likely not be able to. Shame too, because he actually didn't mind Hiro's company, and he could only say that about two, maybe three, people. "Sorry, but tomorrow won't do." He picked up on Hiro's disappointment at that moment when most others would've been none the wiser. "I'll text you or something when I'll be able to."

"Uh, okay. That's cool." Hiro said. "I guess I'll see you later."

"See ya." Matt then walked down the stairs to the actual café. When he was sure he was gone, Hiro sat back on the chair properly, and hugged his knees to his chest. He rested his chin on his knees and ran his hands through his hair.

"Dammit." He mumbled to himself. _'What were you thinking Hiro! Inviting him in like that! You could practically swim in the awkwardness. He probably wasn't even texted, he just wanted an excuse to get away. Why else would he go out now unless he thought it was better than being stuck in here with me!'_ He mentally berated himself. _'Can't blame him, if I was with me I'd wanna leave too. Dammit you're such an idiot!' You've never made friends before, what made you think you could magically get a guy like him to wanna willingly spend time with you!?'_ Tears formed in his eyes but he blinked them away before they fell. "Forget about it." He decided to call it a night and turn off the tv.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

Archie cracked one eye open, having expected death to be upon him by now since that was what tended to happen when one was hit point blank by a large battle weapon. He saw Battle-Axe axe standing there, with her axe still raised. She was trembling, barely able to stand on her feet. When Archie looked properly he saw that she wasn't even standing, she was suspended slightly, with just her toes touching the ground. Something Archie noticed, he probably should've noticed it sooner, was the long, black, blood drenched, spear-like tendril sticking 4 feet out of her midsection.

The axe started to tilt forward and fell out of her hands. Archie snapped back to it and was about to move out of the way before the tendril snapped forward and grabbed it by curling around the handle.

"This Dantian." Archie murmured. He then lay down properly and exhaled. "What are you of all people doing here?"

The tendril then snapped to the side and threw Battle-Axe and her axe into the wall of containers. She flopped like a raggedy doll as her previously created flames were extinguished. The tendril then retracted back to its source at the feet of a man in the shadows. He said nothing.

"Hey, say something."Archie said.

No response.

"If you're trying to be cool it ain't working Rudy." Archie deadpanned, standing up.

"You're no fun ya know that Archie." A deep, aloof sounding voice said. "You won't even humour me once in a while." He stepped out of the shadows, revealing a middle-aged man with light golden-brown hair tied in a ponytail that reached his mid-back, and was wearing black chinos and a navy polo shirt. He also had a tendril from his feet reach up above his head and form a slightly curved disk, making a pseudo umbrella. He was also caucasian and had the same skin tone as Archie.

"No, I won't." Archie smirked, walking closer to Rudy. "Back to my earlier question: what is someone of your rank doing in San Fransokyo, surely the situation isn't that bad?"

"No no, it's nothing like that." He suddenly became much more serious. "Although there is something I must tell you Archie, and you won't be happy to hear it." He mentally expanded the tendril umbrella to cover Archie too.

"What is it?" Archie asked.

"Not here." Rudy said. "We'll talk about this back at your apartment." He reached his hand out and grabbed Archie's uninjured shoulder.

"Okay."

With that they disappeared in blur, leaving not even a gust of wind in their wake.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

Matt (in vigilante attire) was at the docks, watching a large cargo vessel moor itself in the docks. The look of the insignia on the hull brought back memories he'd rather forget. It was two red roses whose stems were intertwined with a rapier going downwards into them.

He placed his hands on the hilts of the dual katana he had on his back.

"Eyes, can you tell me how many are on board?" Matt asked.

"Not yet, you'll need to get closer, thought judging by the size of that ship it's a lot." She responded. "You'll be fine though, just get a' slicin' and you'll be fine. Those katana I got for you are state of the art, perfect for duel wielding and they can cut through steel. Same for the tanto."

"Great, anything else?"

"If you throw up on my suit, I'll squeeze your balls with a nut cracker. Also, try not to use all the smoke pellets, they're not easy to make." She stated plainly.

"Noted." Matt said dryly. He then started leaping from one wall of containers to another into he was about to board the ship.

Lightning flashed once more over head, which only served to egg Matt on, as if the heavens themselves were on his side.

* * *

 **That's all for this this chapter. Let me know if you would like to see Matt take on the ship full of Murphy's Law grunts, or if you'd like my to leave it out and flash forward to Archie's plotline again. Also I'd really appreciate feedback on my fight scenes. Since I write them and know exactly what's happening I can't tell if they're descriptive enough or not.**

 **Also, I was thinking of starting another 'fanfiction' that's not really a fanfiction, but it's really just a profile of all my OCs. From personal experience many OCs can get a bit confusing so each chapter would just be a bio, background and relevance of an OC. Let me know if you think it's a good idea.**

 **I bid you adieu.**


	7. The Sword Mistress

**Published: 9th March 2016**

 **Sorry for the longer wait for this chapter. I have been bombarded with schoolwork and tests since the year started so I have little time for writing. I also decided to redux my first story because I'm not happy with it so that'll also cause delays. Also don't forget to check out my Deviantart if you haven't already.**

 **IMPORTANT: I have revised all of the previous chapters. For the most part nothing's changed, but for a couple of instances something plot related has been altered. Things that have been altered are mainly certain parts of dialogue or facts that have changed with relation to new information.**

 **With that out of the way, on with the chapter!**

 _ **Summary of the last chapter:**_ _We begin with the ginger archer running from three cloaked assailants, one of whom is already mildly injured and has wrist blades. One of the three has trench knives and the other has a battle axe._

 _Archie forms a blue bow and manages to kill the wrist blade user. After that he realises that in order to fight properly he needs to go to a more remote location. He chooses the docks. Once there he takes out his Spherebot and it transforms into a grip that covers his entire left forearm. Archie's most powerful bow, the Tempest Bow, is formed. He then kills the trench knife user by using a wind arrow that exploded in multiple directions._

 _The battle axe user displays a feat of speed that far surpasses Archie's expectations and she briefly manages to gain the upper hand. However, Archie realises that she isn't one extremely fast person, but three separate, identical people who can make themselves disappear while up to two others attack._

 _During a skirmish Archie's left arm in severely injured and he is therefore unable to utilise his bow. After briefly getting away he manages to regain his bearings. He is then confronted by one of the three, however, Archie managed to embed a red arrow within her chest earlier on. He causes it to detonate, therefore killing her. One of the remaining two then recklessly attack him. He takes advantage of a brief opportunity and slits her throat with a sickle like blade he formed, which is also an arm of his orange bow._

 _The final of the trio appears and has gained a significant boost in power now that she's the last one remaining. She uses yellow flames and manages to get Archie onto the ground and is about to kill him. It is at that moment that a mysterious figure that Archie knows named Rudyappears and dispatches the woman with ease using shadow like tendrils. He says he needs to speak with Archie and then takes him away._

 _Back at Hiro's place, Matt is still there but is texted by Momo that a freighter has moored in San Fransokyo bay. It is more than likely belonging to Murphy's Law so he must go and investigate, leaving a downcast Hiro behind him._

 **Chapter Seven: The Sword Mistress**

The storm continued torage on as Mattneared the freighter.

"Can you get a reading on the soon to be corpse count yet?" Matt asked Eyes.

"No, something must be jamming the signal cause I'm not getting any signals, no infrared at all." Her distorted voice said into Matt's ear. "Even a regular freighter would have some sort of activity. Get closer, and by closer I mean board that bitch."

When he was right in front of the ship (by standing on a stack of intermodal containers) he saw that no bridge had been linked to the pier, no crane had been set up to move any goods, and no workers had been called to do anything.

"Why was this ship even allowed park here. Didn't they find it at all suspicious that there was no crew activity?" Matt mumbled to himself.

"Moor." Eyes said.

"What?"

"A boat doesn't park, it moors."

"I don't care, you know what I mean." Matt looked at the insignia of the ship, noting that the logo of a Japanese company was underneath it.

 _'Makes sense,'_ Matt thought. _'Europe is across the Atlantic, this ship came from the across the Pacific, no doubt from a Japanese subsidiary of Murphy's front company.'_ He bent his knees and sprang forward, clinging onto the hull of the ship. He crawled up and perched himself on the ledge of the bow of the ship. His eyes widened under his helmet when he saw many soldiers patrolling the ship.

"Vig, (pronounced vidge)" Eyes said. "I see what you see, but I'm still not getting any infrared readings from these guys. You have a clearer visual than me, can you see anything distinguishable?"

"Yeah, they're wearing some sort of camouflage-geothermal vest that I'm guessing hides their heat signatures. That's not important though, cause they're carrying-"

"Military grade weaponry." Eyes finished for him. "I can see that much. Take extra care, that armour of yours may be able to stop a glock's bullet at point blank but that's kiddie stuff compared to what these guys are packing. Even if they get just a few shots off it might still be enough to get through to you."

"Got it." Matt sprang from his position and landed soundlessly on a stack of intermodal containers, the same as the ones in the shipyard. He jogged to the corner and crouched down. He saw a lone soldier walk around into his striking range. After making sure there were no other immediate witnesses he pulled out a tanto that was attached to his lower left leg and jumped down, directly behind the militia. With one swift movement he used his hand to cover the man's mouth as he stabbed up through the vest and info the man's heart. Matt held his position for a couple of seconds before lowering the corpse to the ground and retaking his vantage point atop the containers.

It took only a couple of moments before another 2 soldiers walked around to see the corpse. They didn't seem to be concerned at all though, they did however raise their weapons in a state of raised alertness. Matt reached behind his back and opened a rectangular pouch that attached to his left buttock. He pulled out a small grey capsule that was about an inch long and two centimetres in diameter. He aimed it at the two soldiers, who were now standing back to back, and threw it. The immediate area was instantaneously enveloped in a cloud of grey smoke. The guns started firing immediately out of the cloud.

Matt jumped and drew both his swords mid-air. Both were slightly smaller than the single weapon he had used previously, and they were also made of lighter, but equally durable, materials. He again landed in a silent crouch and darted forward with vigour. It was too late for the men to realise what was happening before they were both cut down. Without being able to silence them however, they let out sounds of pain which Matt was sure would alert nearby militia.

As he was about to leap away, the entire outer wall of the mountain of containers he was just standing on burst open. Dozens of soldiers emerged, guns raised and bulletproof armour adorning their bodied. They formed a tight circle around him, as well as taking point atop the containers themselves and the outer rim of the ship. He was completely surrounded.

"Any suggestions?" He whispered to Eyes.

"Uhh...no, but I'll keep pondering." She replied.

"Drop the blades!" One of the men yelled in Japanese. Matt was slightly taken aback at hearing someone speak in his mother tongue, though he could tell that he wasn't a native speaker from the accent. He complied with the order, both weapons hitting the metal floor with a clang.

"Hands behind your head!" The same man yelled. He did as ordered again. As if rehearsed, multiple soldiers cautiously walked forward. They had their guns on their backs and handcuffs and other things in their hands. A few of the soldiers decided to turn on their gun mount lasers and point to Matt's vitals, just to remind him that if he tried anything he would die. If these were average thugs with average weapons then he'd have no problem getting away, but these were professional military men and women with even more professional weapons. His armour wouldn't be able to shield such an onslaught and he didn't think that these were the type of people to particularly care if an ally or two happened to get in the way of a target.

The fur from the back of his helmet was torn off and tossed aside and his hands were none too gently yanked to his lower back. Handcuffs were then tightly put onto his wrists and another just above his elbows. Another pair was placed on his ankles, though they were looser on order to allow him to walk somewhat. He felt the barrel of a gun being poked into his upper back.

"Move."

He was guided away to the other end of the ship, with dozens of guns pointed at him at any given time. When they reached he other side of the mountain of containers, one of the militia walked up to the mountainous stack, removed a glove and placed their hand on on a container door. After a couple of seconds the soldier stepped back and the container doors shifted back and slid apart to reveal a staircase leading down.

As he was walking down the stairs, step by small step, he began to feel the swaying of the ship go side to side, back and forth. The storm wasn't helping things. It made him feel a little queasy.

 _'Dammit.'_

 ********BREAK********

Archie was sitting on a couch in his apartment. It was a small enough place in the outskirts of the city while still being in walking distance to the centre.

He was quiet, with his elbows on his knees and his face in his palms. Rudy was standing only a few feet away, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, intentionally looking away from Archie.

"Is that all?" Archie asked, with little emotion in his voice. Rudy shifted from the wall and reached into his pocket. He held out the small item to Archie, who looked up took it from his hand. It was a medallion of sorts, it was in the shape of a shield, was a silvery white with a band of black going diagonally across it. the black band had three gold circles on it.

"You know what this means, don't you Archibald?" Rudy asked.

Archie inhaled deeply through his nose. "It means that _I_ am your successor," Archie said solemnly. "it means that I am to take your place within Luna-Roja," he snapped his head up, glaring at Rudy. "instead of my mother!"

"Yes." Rudy said. "It also means that you have responsibilities to live up to now, if I were to fall-"

"Fat chance." Archie spat.

"It's always a possibility Archibald. We may be in a state of cold war right now, but you know as well as I that it is an extremely volatile situation."

Archie focused his eyes on the floor again.

"As I was saying, you have responsibilities now, therefore you should come back, so that I can prepare you for what will one day be yours." Rudy said, his voice staying calm.

"No!" Archie vehemently spat, standing up a little too quickly, aggravating the wound on his shoulder, and glaring once again at David. "I'm not done here! If I don't do what I came to do then San Fransokyo will fall!"

A silence fell between the two, Archie realising his slip up too late.

"What's happening Archie, what's so great that it risks what you say?" Rudy asked, sounding very concerned.

"I can't say." Archie said, looking down to he side as he gripped his shoulder.

"Why."

"I can't tell you, Rudolph!" Archie said, anger seeping into his voice.

"Archie," Rudysaid. "I know it hurts, trust me I do, but you can't let it blind you to the bigger picture. If something of such great consequence is afoot then I need to know."

Archie grit his teeth and squeezed the medallion in his hand. "If I tell you it's as your nephew, and not as your successor to the Bāxiān **(The Eight Immortals)**. Deal?"

Rudy sighed. "Fine, if it's that important to you, I won't act on what you tell me."

Archie sat back down and exhaled, bracing himself for what David's possible reaction could be. "Just so you know, if you react the wrong way, then we may be plunged into a war, a war on a scale greater that any that has occurred before this."

Rudy raised his eyebrows, his concern increasing tenfold.

 ********BREAK********

At the bottom of the stairs Matt was led down, there were large, metal double doors. The cavalry still had their guns aimed at him so escape was still unlikely.

"Halt!" He was ordered. Two soldiers behind him went out in front and began to pull on a door each. They creaked noisily, the metallic screech irritating his ears. He was pushed forward by the barrel of a gun into the room. It was truly a surprising sight to behold, something he wasn't expecting at all. The room was very large, taking up a lot of space Matt expected to have been dedicated to engine rooms and boilers or whatever it was that kept a ship of this size going. It's lighting was tinted crimson, and there were maybe a couple dozen people occupying it, doing things that would make a nun have a heart attack.

Both men and women were occupying the were all scantily clad, if clad could've even been used to describe the state of dress these people were in as they were all only wearing domino masks of varying colours and accessories. Matt decided to focus his gaze primarily on the ground in front of him. He wasn't a spiritual or religious person by any means but despite that he was sure he could feel his ancestors frowning upon him from the next world just for being in that very room. The stagnant scent of sex and alcohol was also an undeniable presence, he could tell that the drink was probably sake (sock-kay - an alcoholic Japanese drink) and some sort of stout.

At the other end of the room there sat a woman on a mound of large cushions and pillows. She was wearing more than the others in the room, which wasn't very hard to begin with. Her attire consisted of fiery red pants that were tight at the waist that got broader as they went down and the upper half of a black tank top that really, really put emphasis on her cleavage whilst not covering much else. She was barefoot expect for a toe ring on her left index toe. She had pale skin, washboard abs, curly blonde hair and green eyes. She looked to be about 22 to 23 years of age, though Matt couldn't make an accurate judgement in this lighting. To top it off she had a look of utter boredom on her face.

A small spark of interest flashed in her eyes when she saw Matt, something he registered immediately. She started clapping slowly as she stared daggers at Matt.

"Well done Commander, perhaps you aren't as incompetent as I initially thought." She said in a strong, serious, mocking yet still feminine voice with a Welsh accent. She stood up and began walking across the room.

"Yes Ma'am!" A man standing near behind Matt said in a salute. "What will we do with him now?"

The woman yawned and stretched. "You can start by removing those bonds and giving him his swords." Matt's eyes narrowed.

"What's she up to?" Eyes mumbled into his ear. Matt felt his cuffs being removed and his katanas being placed in the sheaths on his back.

"Very good." The woman said, stopping and placing a hand on her hip. "Now you and your little soldiers can leave."

"M-m'lady?" The commander said. "This is a dangerous individual, we should-" The man smartly stopped speaking when the woman appeared instantaneously in front of him. A slight, brief gust of wind blew on the floor she was now standing on.

Matt turned instantly and placed both hands on the hilts of his swords, not daring to have his back turned to the woman. _'So effortless!'_ He thought, referring to her insane speed. _'I was standing directly between them, yet she managed to get to him in less than a second.'_

"I believe I said you could leave, Commander," She said with a threatening undertone in her voice as she ran her hand from his abdomen up to his chest, pressing her middle finger between his ribs. "so you should best oblige before I deem you too much of a nuisance."

"Ma'am!" He said again, backing away and bowing before he and the rest of his soldiers filed out. She stretched her arms behind her back with a drawn out moan until a cracking sound came from her spine. She turned and began walking, not acknowledging Matt who moved around her as she walked, again making sure he never turned away from her. The other people in the room didn't cease their very adult activities for a single second throughout the whole exchange.

"Who are you?" Matt said calmly as the woman approached her pile of pillows and cushions. She didn't respond, deciding to start rummaging through her pile of pillows, throwing many to the side in the process. "I said-"

"I heard you." She said. She then bent down and pulled something out from the pile of pillows, two things actually. She held two Chinese War Swords, one I'm each hand. Both were a reflective silver with black hilts and S-shaped guards. One was a few inches smaller than the other. That one was held backhanded in her right hand. "The name's Barbara Bristol, 1st lieutenant of Ms. Murphy's Fianna Grian. You're Juusuke (jew-skay) 'Mathew' Raijūmura. Son of Yukino (you-key-no) Raijūmura and Juusuke Mononoke-Raijūmura (momo-no-kay). Brother to Amaya (am-eye-a) Raijūmura. Heir presumptive to the Raijūmura clan and, most currently, an unbound rogue situated in San Fransokyo." She said, still sounding bored. She waved her right hand above her head, careful to not cut herself. Around the room, all of the scantily clad, domino mask wearing people disintegrating away into nothing, one after the other as if they were just ghosts fading into the ether, the smell following them.

Matt wasn't concerned by that though, what he was concerned about was how this woman was aware of such privy information. He never told anyone his real name, not even Momo knew it, though now she did since she was still listening in through the helmet. The fact that she knew his parents' and sister's name was just as alarming.

"How do you-" Matt started, a sweat running down his face.

"Not important. Right now all that is important is that you draw your weapons." Bristol said, shifting into a battle stance. Matt drew both swords with swish, taking on his own stance.

 _'There's no way out, she's got me locked in. My only option is to take her out if I want to get off of this damned boat. With the speed she has I wouldn't be able to just run away.'_

They started circling each other, slowly, calculating and reading the others' stance, both daring the other to make the first move. Matt did, darting forward and thrusting with his right sword. Bristol parried with her longer sword and swiftly swung with her shorter one. Matt batted it away with his other blade. The vigilante backed up a little and went in for another attack. The dual blades cut through the air only to be stopped by Bristol's own. They both began to move faster, more intricately as they got a better feeling of their opponent's tactics. Sparks flew every single time one of the four blades collided.

Strike after strike they clashed. Two fundamentally different styles were used yet both were equally frightening. Matt's mask was scratched, deep enough that that he could feel his cheek bleed. It jolted him enough that for a split second Bristol managed to take advantage and smash her heel into Matt's face. He flew back and hit the floor with a thump. He composed himself despite the ringing in his ears and the missing lower half of his mask. A droplet of blood ran down the side of his mouth.

"That kick should've sent you through the ceiling." Bristol said. "You're being weighed down. Standard issue Dantian-dampening hyper-dense training weights by my estimate. Typical amongst training Classes 3 through 6. Someone who is classified as unbound shouldn't have access, though given your familial connections it's not surprising."

"Can you shut it for a-"

"You're also very sluggish, and your reaction time is below what I expected. Given how active you are in foiling our efforts on a near daily basis you should be more competent. If I were to guess then I'd say that you are sleep deprived. In our line of work such a thing is most commonly caused by P.T.S.D." She said as if she was reading from a textbook.

"You really need to learn to shut it!" Matt said, picking up his swords again, getting frustrated by her accuracy.

"Remove your weights, if I am to fight with a handicap then it will be with as little a handicap as possible." She held her weapons at her sides.

Matt was reluctant to let himself be vulnerable, though he knew that if he wanted to keep up with her for much longer then he would need to lose the excess weight. His uncurbed strength may provide him with an advantage.

There was one problem though, he didn't know if she'd take advantage or not. Then again if she wanted him dead the soldiers would've gunned him down earlier.

Bristol stabbed her swords into the ground and lay down as if she was about to sleep.

"Do it."

Matt deliberated as to whether or not take advantage of her there and then.

 _'She's probably just as on guard as before. If I remove the weights then I'll be able be able to use the imperial stance.'_ He thought about it for a few seconds longer before cautiously rolling up his sleeves and to remove theprocessingpieces of metal. He tossed them to the side, leaving deep dents where they fell.

"Matt, are you sure about this?" Eyes asked, her voice riddled with static.

He didn't respond.

He removed the other segments of the weights and retook his battle stance.

"Finally." Bristol said. She stood up and retook her stance also. "You really have no control over your Dantian do you? I can just feel it leaking out wantonly. It's disgraceful."

Matt inhaled deeply, put his right leg forward and his left leg back. He stood on the balls of his feet and held his swords out, akin to a bird's wings.

Bristol furrowed her brows and defensively held her weapons in front of her. _'That stance is too open to be accidental, too unbalanced and unguarded. It must be s formal battle stance. He's finally taking this seriously.'_

Suddenly Matt moved with a whoosh, appearing behind Bristol in barely more than a second. She turned on her heel and blocked her opponent's incoming attack. The blades connected with fantastic strength pushing at either end. Matt pushed Bristol back, her heels scraping into the floor. She smirked. The real fight just began.

 ********BREAK********

Rudy stood, brows furrowed and fists clenched. Archie sat, annoyed, alarmed, nervous and relieved at the same time.

"And you're sure that you want to go on with this plan of yours?" He asked.

"Certain. If there's a chance war can be avoided then I'm gonna take it, even if I'm just a Class-4."

"I won't get in your way, for now, but if this gets out of hand I'm intervening. Understood?"

"Yeah."

"Good. And Archie, just know that you can depend on other people, carrying such a burden alone will kill you. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, I do. If I need to I'll prostrate myself to them afterwards but for now..."

"I get it, Archie, just don't die. I don't think I could take it, not now, not so soon."

For the first time in a while, Archie looked up.

"Don't worry, I plan on living long after you're ash." He smirked.

"I don't doubt it." Rudy began waking towards the door. "See ya kid."

The door soon close with a click.

"Bye."Archie whispered "Uncle."

 ********BREAK********

The battle between the two swordsman raged on, eventually migrating out to the deck of the freighter. Patrolling soldiers that got caught in the crossfire were killed indefinitely. They quickly learned to give the dueling duo a wide berth.

They leapt at each other from atop different containers, clashing mid-air. A force of their attack could be seen blowing through the rain. They landed on the containers the other was on just a second ago. The left side of Matt's mask cracked, getting bigger before crumbling away. All that was left of it was the right eye, ear and side of the head. Bristol on the other hand was cut above the right eye. Despite being shallow the cut bled into her eye.

 _'He's just as skilled as I am with blades, if not more so. Even so, it's time to finish this game.'_ She thought. The duo turned and faced each other, the Vigilante clearly the more exhausted of the two. Even so, he held his katanas tight in his fists and glared death at Bristol. He could feel multiple cuts bleeding out all over his body, Bristol's blades having easily cut through his usually difficult to pierce suit. His swings were stronger, and for now they were matched in speed, though she easily surpassed him in both agility and stamina.

"I'm ending this now." Bristol said. Matt braced himself for her attack. She vanished for a split second before suddenly reappearing behind him. Even at his best he probably wouldn't have been able to completely avoid the attack, though it probably would've been an inch or so shallower than the deep slice between two of his left floating ribs. He ignored it for the time being and slashed at Bristol, though she vanished again, Matt near instantly feeling another cut tearing into his lower back. Matt made another, although somewhat weak, attempt at hitting Bristol. She wasn't there when he turned but he quickly felt her sword cut the back of his right knee. His stance faltered and he began carrying most of his weight on his left leg. He caught a fleeting glimpse of Bristol in his peripheral vision and tried attacking again but she was gone in an instant. He felt the blade cut lengthwise into his upper left arm. Whatever it hit it made it so that he couldn't keep a grip on his sword, making it fall and emit a clanging sound against the metal container.

Bristol stopped her relentless onslaught and stood behind the bleeding and panting Matt. Her blades dripped the blood of her foe. Another ca-crack of lightning illuminated the crying sky as she walked slowly towards him, dropping her swords which sheathed themselves in the metal of the containers.

"You see, Juusuke, you never really stood a chance. I will admit that as a swordsman, you are undoubtedly skilled, even when compared to the calibre of your family. Were you not compromised you may have been able to legitimately compete with me. I wanted to test you, and to achieve this I purposefully blunted my abilities to primarily my prowess with blades so that I could accurately ascertain the scope of your abilities. That is the only reason our fight lasted as long as it did: because I let it."

Matt feebly waved his weapon at Bristol, who just batted it paway with her fingers. She reached out and wrapped her fingers around Matt's throat, lifting him a foot off the floor.

"I only let you live right now because it is what my master wishes. Under any other circumstance I would squeeze the air from your lungs."

Matt glared with absolute hatred at the woman as even more blood escaped through his lips. Bristol tightened her grip even further, Matt making a gagging sound as she did. He'd lost too much blood to have the energy to fight back, even as he became deprived of oxygen and his head began to feel light. His eyelids seemingly got heavier with each passing second and his lungs ached out of deprivation.

"Now sleep." She yanked Matt forward and smashed her head into his, knocking him unconscious. She then looked directly into the eye of his mask. "Come get him." She said, then removing what was left of the mask and crushing it.

 **With Momo**

"No." She said as she looked at the monitor. "No it can't be." He breathing intensified. "No, no she wanted him alive, she said so herself. But she just knocked him out, he can't get home!" She began hyperventilating, "pacing" the room in her chair. "What am I gonna do!?" She grabbed her forehead with her hands as Glasgow walked up to her and whined. She looked at him and smiled sadly, then began to ruffle his ears. "Gogo." She said in realisation. "GOGO! She's the only one I can trust to bring him back!" She immediately went back to her desk and grabbed her phone, speedily scrolling through her contacts until she saw "Ethel" appear. She hit ring and held the phone to her ear while biting her nailes.

 **"What?"** The voice on the other side said.

"Gogo, I really really reeeealy need your help!"

 **"Can't this wait, I'm in the middle of-"**

"No thisabsolutely cannot wait! I need you to go the docks and get Matt!"

 **"Get Matt? Why does I need to-"**

"Because he's out cold, bleeding and in the fucking rain!" She yelled. "He could die." Her voice cracked a little as she mumbled those last three words.Gogo caught this and knew that whatever was happening, it was serious, though that didn't stop her from sighing.

 **"Fine, I'll go get him, but you owe me again."** She said. Momo sighed in relief.

"Thanks Gogo. Please hurry, I don't know how long he'll last."

 **"Got it."** She hung up.

 ********BREAK********

Gogo quickly drove to the docks, specifically to where Momo texted where Matt should be. She got out of her car with an umbrella and flashlight in hand. It wasn't too long before she saw something humanoid on the ground. After shining the light on it she saw that it was an unconscious, bloodied and naked Matt face down in the concrete.

"Oh shit!"

She ran over and held the umbrella over Matt's upper body and placed her jacket over his rear end. She got her phone out of the pocket and rang Momo who answered in less than a second.

 **"Yeah?"**

"I found him, but he's bleeding bad and naked. I'm gonna call an ambulance."

 **"Okay, do whatever you need and fast! And make sure there's nothing there that can give him away as the Vigilante."**

"There's nothing. I'm gonnastay with him until they get here and then I'll come get you. Okay?"

 **"Okay. Thank you Gogo, you've no idea how much this means to me."**

"I can guess." Gogo said before hanging up and calling dialling 911.

 ********BREAK********

Soon the ambulance and paramedics arrived, carefully loading Matt onto a gurney and taking him away. Gogo did as she said and went and picked up Momo before heading to the hospital. Gogo could feel the tense and worry leaking off of Momo.

"Hey," Gogo said. "he's gonna be fine. We both know that it'll take way more than that to take him down." Even as she spoke her words she didn't entirely believe them, she was just saying what Momo needed to hear.

"No-one knows that better than me." Momo said, lacking her usual pep. "It's just that _I_ sent him there, _I'm_ the one who said he needed to go. Whatever happens to him is on me."

"Matt knows what he signed up for, it's an occupational hazard."

"I know, but I can't help feeling guilty. While he's out there nearly every night, risking his life to make San Fransokyo a safer place I'm at at that computer, in that chair, not able to do anything but natter in his ear!" Tears were brimming her eyes. "He takes all of the risks, sufferes all of the consequences while I'm just-"

"Hey!" Gogo snapped. "Without you with him that fool Matt would be jumping around like a headless chicken every day having absolutely no clue where to go or what to do!" Momo said nothing, only staring glassy eyed at Gogo. "He needs you more than you need him. Woman up and realise that before I beat it into that pink head of yours!"

Momo was in a state of stunned silence for a second. She smiled at Gogo and wiped away the unshed tears.

"Thanks, I needed to hear that."

"That's why I said it." Gogo said with a smirk.

"Mo, I know I'm preaching to the choir but whoever did this must be crazy strong."

"I know, I watched the entire fight."

"How?" Gogo asked with furrowed brows.

"The helmet Matt wears lets me see and hear everything he does. The one who did this to him's called Barbara Bristol, a high ranking member of that bitch Murphy's soldiers. She knows a lot about Matt, more than me anyway, more than she should."

"Like what?"

Gogo looked at Gogo and smiled. "To start, his real name's Juusuke, he has a sister and he's the heir to a clan."

"Whoa. Ya think you know a guy. Even after this many years he didn't tell you any of that?"

"I knew he had a sister, and he hinted that he was somehow related to nobility once, but other than that I barely know anything about his life."

"Did you find out anything else, like maybe why they didn't kill him?"

Momo shook her head. "I only know that their boss said not to kill him. 'Why' I don't know."

"What about this Barbara woman, how did she fuck up Matt like this?"

"Again something I don't know. By the time she beat him, most of the mask was broken, I could barely see or hear what they were doing, let alone anything specific."

"Hmm. Any clue why he was stripped?"

"I think they don't want him found out as the Vigilante either. If someone else found him then they'd know who he was and that'd be it. No, they have something planned, something involving Matt."

Gogo didn't ask anymore questions, which was fine since they were just after arriving at the hospital.

"You don't have to come in." Momo said. "You've done enough."

"I've come this far and I'm sticking around to make sure he makes it through the night." Gogo joked.

Inside the building was just as packed as someone would expect a big city hospital to be. They made their way to the reception.

"Hi. Matthew Raijūmura should've been admitted earlier, can you tell me where he is?" Momo asked the woman behind the desk. The woman then typed into her keyboard.

"He's in the ICU, being treated for multiple flesh wounds. What's your relationship with him?"

"I'm his housemate."

"And you?" She asked Gogo.

"I'm a friend. I called the ambulance."

"Uh huh." She said. She reached under her desk and took out two tablets with forms on the screens. "Fill these out and take a seat over there. The police will want a statement from both of you."

"Right." Momo said. "Thanks."

They walked over to the waiting area and sat in silence as they filled out the forms.

"You can go home of you want." Momo said.

"Nah, I'll stick with you." She took gum out of her pocket and offered some to Momo, who declined. "I've nowhere to be anyway."

 **And that is it for this chapter. Let me know what you think in a review. Also, I've found out that Disney are making a Big Hero 6 tv show on Disney XD in 2017. I will watch to see if anything useful that I can use comes up. If anything contradicts what will be cannon in my story consider the tv show ignored.**

 **Tis all for now, I bid you adieu.**


	8. The Contender

**Published: 2nd April 2016**

 **I put some more stuff on Deviantart, you should check them out. They are the Bowie family crest, Matt's vigilante suit, and Archie's battle armour.**

 _ **Summary of the last chapter:**_ _it starts with Matt boarding the freighter that belongs to Murphy's Law. After killing a couple of militia he is swarmed by dozens upon dozens of well armed soldiers. He is taken into the underneath of the freighter and is met by Murphy's 1st lieutenant: Barbara Bristol. She shows that she knows a lot about Matt, including his real name, Juusuke, his parents' names, Yukino and Juusuke, and his sister's name, Amaya. They clash briefly before Bristol noticed Matt's handicap and orders him to remove his weights before they continue their fight._

 _With Archie and Rudy, Rudy is after telling Archie that his mother is after dying and that now he is Rudy's heir. Archie then tells Rudy the reasons he is staying in San Fransokyo and why he needs to get Matt to use his Dantian again. Rudy accepts this but says he'll intervene if things get out of hand. He then leaves._

 _Back with Matt and Bristol, their fight has migrated to the deck of the freighter. Atop the containers they clash. It is then when Bristol decides that she's done with the fight and uses her vastly superior speed to quickly dominate the fight. She cuts him down and knocks him out. She removes what's left of him mask and tells Momo to come her Matt._

 _Being unable to get Matt herself, Momo calls Gogo and pleads with her to go get Matt. She does, and finds Matt naked at the docks. She calls an ambulance and then picks up Momo and they both go to the hospital. Gogo says that she'll stay with Momo for the night._

* * *

 **Chapter Eight: The Contender**

* * *

Momo was by Matt's bedside, looking over the unconscious, bandaged and peaceful looking teen. She hadn't left his side since he was admitted the night before. The doctor and nurses tried to convince her to leave but since she was Matt's emergency contact/housemate she had every right to be with him.

His state made her cringe. She was told that he had taken a potentially lethal blow to the left side of his chest. Even a few millimetres deeper and he could've gotten a collapsed lung or worse. She was also that told that the back of his right knee was injured. Again it was just shallow enough not to cause permanent damage. Same with the cut on his upper left arm, it barely missed any major veins or arteries. The only other cut of note was on his lower back, but it wasn't potentially debilitating in any case. Other than that he had multiple minor cuts and bruising on his throat and signs of blunt trauma on his forehead.

She was assured that he wouldn't die but he has quite the recovery ahead of him. If he doesn't exert himself too much, sticks to the plan and rests, he would made a full recovery. The hard part would be convincing Matt to do so. He wasn't one to just sit around and do nothing, even if it was for his own good.

"I'm literally gonna have to strap him down." Momo mumbled to herself. She looked at his face. His near permanent look of discontent was gone, replaced with a morphine dulled, sleeping look. The eye bags that came with his insomnia were also gone. Initially Momo was concerned with the fact that Matt suffers from terrible nightmares, but the doctor assured her that being asleep and being unconscious were two very different things and that he wouldn't have nightmares or even dreams while knocked out.

She reached out and gently held his limp hand, taking solace in its warmth.

There was a knock at the door and she heard three sets of feet walk in. It was Gogo, along with Hiro and Tadashi.

"Hey," The biker girl said. "how's he holding up?"

"The doctor said that he's gonna be fine if he rests a lot." Momo answered. She then looked at Hiro and smiled.

"Hi, I'm Momo, the keeper of Matt's emotions and social skills. I'm sure you've heard all about me." She said, holding her hand out to Hiro.

"Hi, and no, Matt hasn't mentioned you a whole lot." He shook her hand. Momo snapped her head around and glared at the bedridden. Hiro stepped over and took a proper look at Matt, gasping sharply when he did so.

"W-what happened?"

Momo shook her head. "I don't know."

"When did it happen?" Tadashi asked, stepping behind Hiro and gently placing his hands on his little brother's shoulders.

"Last night." Momo answered, an aura of sorrow suddenly overcoming her. "I never should've called him out in that storm!"

"You couldn't have known that this would happen." Gogo said as she took a seat next to Momo.

"I know that, but I should've just let him stay put."

"I shouldn't have let him leave." Hiro added. Momo smiled a little at him.

"Don't blame yourself, nothing you could say would've made him not go, ergo, it's my fault for making him leave."

"How about instead of blaming yourselves, you blame the people who actually did this!" Gogo said, gesturing to Matt with one hand while pinching the bridge of her nose out of annoyance with the other.

"Right."

After a few seconds of silence Tadashi spoke. "So what _did_ happen?"

"I don't know." Momo said. "He must've been ganged up on by god knows who."

"Must've been a lot of guys." Hiro said. "I've seen how fast he is, the power of his punch as well."

"Yeah, not just anyone could do this." Momo clenched her fists in her lap as she said this. She looked at Hiro. "Sorry Hiro, but he won't be your bodyguard for a while."

"Yeah, I thought so. It's no big deal."

"So are the police looking into this?" Tadashi asked. Momo shook her head.

"It's just being reported as random assault. Besides, they have enough on their plates right now. You know with all the abductions going on."

"That's not right." Tadashi frowned. Momo shrugged.

"There's not much we can do until Matt wakes up. Maybe he can remember who did this when he does." Gogo said.

"Hopefully." Momo muttered.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

Did he really want to do it? Putting it on and going through with this part of his plan? There'd be no going back. He exhaled.

"Let's do this Archie-boy." He swung his arms back and forth and bounced on the balls of his feet out of nervousness. "Time to become a hero."

* * *

 **A LITTLE LATER**

It was a beautiful day in San Fransokyo, the sun shining in the wake of horrible storm the night before. Citizens were delighted for their usual weather to be back so many were out and about. Other's were not so pleased at that moment, certain archers included.

Archie was atop a high skyscraper, one of the highest skyscrapers, wearing a uniform that has been used through the ages. Some would say it was an absolute honour to wear it, as it could only worn by only the heir of the Bowie family. It had a regal appearance, yet was clearly identified as battle armour. The breast-plate with the Bowie family symbol on it helped with that. The uniform was comprised of a red, dantinium breast-plate, extremely fine, dark-red, dantinium-weave chain-mail that coverd the abdomen and hips, red and black segmented dantinium greaves and dark-red forearm guards with red leather gloves. Hanging from his left hip was the Spherebot. Underneath the armour could be seen a suit very similar to what Matt wore in fabric and colour.

He held in his hand the front of what looked like a mask, similar in design to what Matt wore, with an upward triangle on the bottom and a triangle on each cheek pointing inwards. Although, the colours were different, the mask was a dark-red, like the chainmail and forearm guards, and the triangles were black. He put the mask on his face and it clung to his skin. Archie then pulled up a hood the same colour as the mask.

Archie stepped off the edge of the building, plummeting towards the earth at an increasing velocity. He straightened his body and fell into a nosedive, further increasing his speed. Then, with relatively simple manipulation of his wind Dantian, he began to level out and glide between the skyscrapers.

 _'Gotta love the feeling of the wind in your hair.'_ He thought.

Like a speeding bullet he flew through the city, quickly gaining the attention of hundreds upon hundreds of onlookers. He smirked under his mask, liking the attention very much. Still, he knew where he needed to be at that moment.

With his destination nearing he began to slow himself, quickly flipping himself mid-air so that as he landed on a roof he was uninjured in any way. He wasn't on a skyscraper anymore, instead he was on a much lower building only a few stories tall. He walked over to the edge and saw nearly a dozen cop cars across the street, in front of a large building that happened to be a bank. This bank however, was in the process of being robbed of its valuables, i.e, money.

Archie bent his knees and leapt across onto the roof of the bank. He could vaguely hear the police yammering about him down below but he paid them no attention. Instead he clasped his hands together and concentrated his Dantian, letting it "build up" on the surface of his skin. He continued to concentrate it, building up more pressure while keeping it contained. After only a few seconds he released the pressure, letting a wave of Dantian burst from him. His Dantian expanded into a sphere that encompassed the entire area of the bank. No-one without experience sensing Dantian wouldn't be able to see or feel his "sphere", which was ideal as Archie's intent was to create a mental map of the interior of the bank, letting him know the number of assailants, number of hostages and their whereabouts.

He found out that all of the hostages were condensed in one area with two gunmen guarding them. Four more gunmen were scattered throughout the rest of the bank.

"This is gonna be child's play." Archie said arrogantly.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

Momo, Hiro, Gogo and Tadashi were still by Matt's bedside. It was Saturday, so they could afford to be there at three in the afternoon.

"So guys, I was watching the news this morning and apparently there's an investigation into some explosions that happened at the docks last night." Tadashi said.

Momo tensed up as soon as Tadashi said the word "docks". _'Their fight didn't move from the ship, so there's nothing they could've found.'_ She thought frantically.

"Any clue what caused it?" Gogo asked, seeing that Momo was worried.

"Nothing concrete," Tadashi said. "but some video footage from the cameras at the docks showed some people jumping around on containers. It looked like they were fighting."

"Was it the Vigilante?" Hiro asked.

Tadashi shrugged. "I dunno, wouldn't surprise me."

"What did the videos show?" Momo asked. Inwardly she was having a miniature panic attack.

"Just a guy, maybe holding a bow or something, fighting with a couple people in blue. It was hard to make out with the rain and all, it was all blurred and the power was cut after a lightning bolt struck a generator. Anyway, when they went down there they found and entire rows of containers collapsed, cut in half and burned. Some blood was found but no bodies."

"Interesting." Momo said, calming a little since she knew it wasn't Matt, but getting even more worried at the prospect of more "vigilantes" swarming San Fransokyo. This city was spoken for godamnit!

"Guys, turn on the news!" Gogo said, looking up from her phone. Hiro grabbed the remote from Matt's bedside locker and turned on the overhead tv. He flicked through a few channels before settling on the news station.

"What's going on?" Tadashi asked.

"Apparently the "vigilante" has interrupted a bank robbery just now."

* * *

 **With Archie**

Archie stood in the middle of the bank floor, all of the gunmen unconscious on the ground, some with silvery arrows embedded in their flesh. The orange bow he was holding disintegrated into white particles. He looked over his shoulder to look at the hostages. Every single eye was on him.

"Heyo!" He waved. "Don't worry, I'm not with that big bad vigilante who goes around every night killing people. In fact, he's my arch-nemesis!" He leapt up it of the building, through the hole in the skylight he made earlier. He walked over to the edge of the roof, looked down, and saw that a crowd had gathered, along with an increase in the authorities' numbers. When one person pointed at him yelled, the entire crowd now had their attention focused on him. The police aimed their weapons at him. _'As if they'll do any good.'_ He scoffed. He heard the loud whirring of a helicopter overhead. He saw that is was a news chopper, probably sent to investigate the "vigilante" appearance. Looking back down to the crowd he cleared his throat. _'Time to get cheesy.'_

"Don't shoot!" He declared. "I am not your enemy, I am your ally! I am an ally to justice, and am here to bring that justice to the cur that has been plaguing this city for far too long! I will take down the Vigilante! _I_ will protect this city! I am- APOLLO!" With that Archie leapt away, happy with the outcome of his venture.

* * *

 **Back In The Hospital**

Gogo and Momo, especially Momo, were just staring at the television screen in shock. Tadashi and Hiro were also surprised, but to a lesser extent because they didn't know that the actual vigilante was unconscious just feet away from them.

"What just happened?" Hiro asked.

"Apparently a turf war was just declared." Gogo answered.

"The Vigilante vs Apollo. Better start placing your bets." Momo chuckled.

"Do you think the Vigilante'll respond?" Tadashi inquired.

"Dunno, the guy only seems to bother with the gang Murphy's Law." Gogo said.

After a moment of silence, a moan was heard from the bed. All heads snapped around to look and saw that Matt was finally waking up. Momo rushed to his side, gently placing a hand on his chest to stop him from trying to sit up.

"Wh-wh-where am I?" He said, bringing his good hand up to wipe the sleep from his eyes.

"The hospital, and Gogo, Hiro and Tadashi ate here too." Momo said, deciding to let Matt know that people who didn't know he was the Vigilante were present do he didn't inadvertently say anything that'd give away their secret.

"R-right." He put his hand over the bandages covering his chest wound. "How long was I out?"

"Since last night." Momo answered. "You didn't miss much."

"So what happened to you?" Hiro asked.

Matt lay his head back and rested his hand comfortably on his abdomen. He knew he couldn't tell Hiro and Tadashi the truth so he quickly formulated a not too hard to believe lie. "On my way home I was mugged by a some group of guys. I tried to get away at the docks but more of showed up. I tried to fight back but before I knew it I was unconscious."

"Yikes!" Gogo said blandly.

"Yikes is right." Matt said. "Hey, it's Saturday right?"

"Yeah." Momo answered. "Why?"

"No reason." He said. _'Only two days then.'_

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

Later that day Matt was discharged and given a recovery plan that he had to adamantly follow. He was also given a pair of crutches to get around, though he had to keep his leg perfectly straight while recovering. Nothing was torn but the risk was great enough that a cast was put on his leg to make sure it didn't bend. His arm was fine to use but not too much. So long as he didn't exert himself he'd be fine.

Gogo decided to be nice enough to drop Momo and Matt home, Hiro and Tadashi taking the latter's moped back to their apartment-café.

Momo was the first through the front door, because of which she was the one who was jumped by mass of fluff, Glasgow. He barked and yipped as he put his front paws on her knees. Momo ruffled behind both his ears with her hands, leaning down and kissing his snout.

"Did you miss us boy?" She asked on the voice people reserved for only man's by friend. "Of course you did because we are brilliant!"

"Could you let us in any time this century?" Matt asked with a snarky bite. Momo turned her head and stuck out her tongue. They filed in and sure enough, Glasgow had a similar reaction with Matt.

"I'm gonna go lie down." Matt said as he began walking up the stairs. "Bring dinner up when it's done."

"I'm not your maid!" Momo said.

"I don't care!" Matt yelled down.

"Hmph!" Momo crossed her arms with a pout. "Ass."

"I'm gonna leave you two to your domestic." Gogo chuckled. "I have places to be."

"Cars to wreck?" Momo asked with a smirk.

"You know it."

"Nice. Say hi to Maurice for me."

"Will do." Gogo closed the front door as she left.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

The headquarters for the San Fransokyo Police Department were currently in extreme disarray, people were running around trying to make sense of their current predicament. Said predicament was the debut of the city's second vigilante, this one looking to want to start a conflict with the first.

Police commissioner Hayate Asegawa was currently in the middle of all of this, concerned about the ordeal more than most. Not only did he have to worry about public safety, due to two apparently superhuman vigilantes about to duke it out, he had the abductions to worry about. As well as that, the credibility of the police force itself was being called into question since, as much as it pained Asegawa to say it, the Vigilante was doing more to prevent them than anything else. That fact made his blood boil more than anything.

"Commissioner?" He turned his head to see the I.T manager, Trisha Donovan, standing there. "You'll want to see this." She led him to her own computer, which already had images on it. "Look here." She pointed to two separate images on the monitor, one from the docks the night before and the other from not even an hour ago. "The bowman we caught footage of last night, is the man calling himself "Apollo". They both carry the same weapon. We can also guarantee that Apollo and the Vigilante are not the same person."

"Anything else?"

"Yes, after interrogating the perpetrators, and confirming with the C.C.T.V at the bank, we discovered that Apollo's arrows disintegrate after hitting their targets, leaving no trace behind."

"None at all?"

"None. Even after forensics checked it out there was nothing left. After the arrows incapacitated the men they dissolved into nothing. I've never seen anything like it before."

"I have."

"Sir?"

"Keep looking into it. Inform me of any new developments."

"Sir!" She saluted him.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

That night, above the Lucky Cat Café, Hiro, Tadashi and Cass were having a pasta bake dinner.

"So you boys do anything interesting today?" She asked.

"We visited Matt in the hospital." Hiro answered through a mouthful of pasta.

"Chew first." Tadashi said.

"What happened to him?" Cass asked.

"Attacked by a gang... we think." Tadashi said.

"Is it bad?"

"Bad enough, but he should be fine."

"That's good. His parents must be so worried." Cass stood up, taking her plate to the sink and rinsing it. "I couldn't possibly know how they feel." She said sarcastically, causing Hiro to blush slightly.

"I don't think he lives with his parents." Tadashi said, joining Cass at the sink. "He shares a house with a friend of his."

"Huh." Cass frowned. "Was he born in Japan? I thought I could hear a bit of an accent from him."

"I think so, though he's never brought it up."

"Anyway, enough of that. I have cake from the shop only has a few hours left and I need your help. Can I count on you boys?"

"Not tonight Aunt Cass, I'm on a diet." Tadashi said. "Though I think Hiro has a big enough stomach for the both of us."

"That I do." Hiro chuckled, rinsing his plate as well.

A minute later the three were seated at the table again, Hiro and Cass with sizable slices of cake on their plates.

"So did you hear about the new guy on the streets, calling himself Apollo?" Hiro asked Cass.

"Yeah. Dangerous stuff, one of these guys out there was bad enough but a _second one_ is just madness! I want you boys to be extra careful when you're out, especially you Hiro."

"Hey, I'm the one with the bodyguard here, I mean, he might not be able to walk right now but he'll still kick anybody's ass!"

"Language."

"Awww," Tadashi said in a doting voice. "does Hiro have a man-crush on his bodyguard?"

"I do not!" Hiro said, blushing, causing Tadashi to laugh loudly, Cass joining in with a giggle. _'I do not!'_

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

"So," Momo said, bursting through Matt's bedroom door with a plate of food in hand. "now that we're alone we can properly talk about what happened on that freighter."

"What's there to talk about?" Matt said from the floor. He was currently doing one-armed push ups with his right arm behind his back and his left leg over his right. "I mean, you saw everything I did right?" He got up and limped to his desk where Momo put the plate.

"I saw it but I don't understand it."

"We've been over this a dozen times Momo, I-"

"Yeah yeah I know, you can't tell me for my own safety blah blah blah blabbidy blabbidy blah! You've given me this spiel before Matt, but that was before someone with all this voodoo woodoo magic crap nearly killed you! Again!"

"Momo-"

"Matt, I need to know what this is because I need to know how to fight it, okay." She wheeled over next to where he was sitting and put her hand on his. "We're partners, we're a team, partners in crime, cohorts, vigilantes, whatever you wanna call it, we are in this _together_. I know this is a something you'd rather push away and ignore but now this stuff is right on our doorstep, and you and me, the two of us, are the only buffer between _it_ and the people of this city. For years I've let you get away without telling me because it wasn't relevant. But now it is. That woman might be gone now but she's gonna be back some day and who knows how many more like her are gonna show up. You might not wanna use your magic shit now and I can't force you, but please, you have to at least tell me how to fight against it so that next time, you can win, so that next time, _we_ can win."

Matt swallowed the food that was in his mouth and exhaled deeply. "You're really cheesy you know, like really, really clichéd."

"Hm!" Momo crossed her arms with an arrogant smirk.

"Fine." He sighed. "I just want to remind you that just by knowing this and not being a part of it is dangerous. If the wrong people find out what you know you might be killed."

"Pfft! That it?"

"Pretty much. What do you want to know?"

"Okay, that Bristol woman, how'd she move so fast?"

"Dantian."

"That's that magic voodoo stuff right?"

"It isn't magic, or voodoo, or whatever you wanna call it. It's, how should I describe it, a sort of... energy that exists in nature. A few thousand years ago a clan of monks in China managed to merge with this energy, take it into themselves and essentially gain godlike powers. Over time more was discovered about it. It had many names throughout history, and was used people to become conquerors and to pass themselves off as literal gods."

"Way to go off on a tangent. I asked how she could go fast and you're instead giving me a history lesson."

"I was getting to it! Anyway, Dantian was eventually considered to be too dangerous to be left for people to use willy nilly so about 1500 or so years ago an organisation was formed to moderate it's users. At first it was just Eastern Asia, the descendants of the original monks and other sects around the region and other countries like Japan, Korea, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, India and a small part of Russia. Over time as trade expanded and explorers migrated the organisation spread all over Europe and eventually over to the Americas."

"Seriously, say hi to your friends Sine and Cosine for me when you get the chance."

"Will you shut up! And a math pun!? Seriously!"

"I just wanna know why the chick goes fast!"

"Fine! She uses a high-speed Dantian based technique called Kaze-Yusō, or Wind-Jump in the States. It has pretty much a different name in every language. It's a mandatory technique for higher classes."

"There, that wasn't difficult at all. Now, what kind of different things can Dantian do?"

"Depends on the user." Matt said through his food before swallowing. "Everybody's is different, and each gives off a unique signature that those who are trained to can differentiate."

"So anybody with Dantian can do pretty much anything they want?"

"No, when someone is trained to use Dantian they instantaneously develop their own attributes and preferences. People's Dantian can tend to be one or more of 7 basic types: water, fire, wind, lightning, earth, energy and matter."

"Energy and matter?"

"You know, things like... light and dark, yin and yang. I suppose energy would be yang, and matter would be yin. Those two are generally more versatile than the rest."

"Whoa. What type do you have?"

"Doesn't matter, I don't have it anymore."

"So you can lose your Dantian huh?"

"Evidently so. Is there anything else you want to know?"

"Um." _'Maybe this Apollo guy is connected to all this.'_ "Can someone who uses Dantian be disconnected from this big worldwide group?"

"Yeah, they're called unbounds. They don't hold allegiance to any Dantian organisation but they can be linked to one."

"So there's more than just the one that I assume you're from?"

"Yeah, a few. Two worldwide ones, a few that keep to a certain region and many other smaller ones that generally stay out of the way."

"Okay. Back to the unbounds, you're one right?"

"Technically yeah, but since I don't use Dantian I'm not much of an issue, then again I know some things so I'm not completely ignored."

"I see." Momo stroked her chin. "How strong would an unbound be?"

"Depends. There are two types of unbounds, those who come from an Organisation and those that come from the general population."

"General population?"

"Yeah. It's rare, but sometimes someone will be able to use Dantian without formal training and without ever having contact with an Organisation. They tend to be particularly strong and gifted with unique Dantian. If they don't cause trouble they're left alone but if they become too strong then they're approached and either recruited, trained to repress or are terminated. If an unbound is from an Organisation it's either from going A.W.O.L or they've taken a leave of absence."

"Uh huh. You said someone's left some if they don't become too strong. How strong is too strong?"

"Well to tell you that I have to tell you about the Class scale."

"Go on."

"The class scale works like this: a Dantian user's power is determined by whatever class they're in. The Classes go from Class-1, the strongest, to Class-10, the weakest. A beginner would be Class-9 or 10, and a slightly more experienced user eligible for higher ranks would be Class-7 or 8. After that we enter the actual military ranks, Class-6 consisting of trainees with potential, and Class-5 being those with actual authority. It should be noted now that the gap between the Classes is constantly increasing. Like, the gap between a Class-5 and a Class-6 is bigger than the gap between a Class-6 and a Class-10, and for the most part, that's the consistent pattern."

"Okay, what about Class-4 and up?"

"Here's where it begins to get scary." Matt warned.

"I'm prepared." Momo smirked.

"Let me put this into perspective, my skills with the swords, are what make me a Class-4. That's without using Dantian."

Momo's eyes widened a little. She saw how good Matt was with the swords, he was a master at using them, greater than anybody she'd ever seen. "But what of you used Dantian that'd make you what? A Class-2 maybe?"

Matt scoffed. "If I began using Dantian again, I might, and that's a very small might, be considered a lower tier Class-3. Barbara Bristol was more than likely a higher tier Class-3 herself."

Momo gulped. "H-how strong are the top two then?"

"First, you should know that by the time someone's reached Class-3 they've trained their bodies to the peak of physical fitness, so from then on it's purely Dantian that decides someone's Class."

"Okay."

"Now, I've been in the presence of a Class-2 before, I spent the first few years of my life around one so they never affected me that much. On the other hand, only once have I ever even seen a Class-1." It was Matt's turn to gulp now, his eyes also dilating.

"Matt?" Matt looked Momo right in the eye.

"Momo, you know me. I can look someone in the eye as I kill them without flinching. I can cut down hoards of people without hesitation, be covered in their blood and still be able to come home and eat my dinner without a second thought. Even now, just thinking about it makes me fear for my life. He wasn't being hostile towards me, if anything he was on my side, willing to give his life for _me_." Matt closely hugged his frame. "Never before then, and never since then did I ever feel so small. My level of Dantian was large for my age then, I excelled beyond most of peers but even with that, when I felt the killing intent of him, that... God, I felt like I was in the middle of an immeasurable raging ocean. Unable to move, unable to contemplate, unable to do _anything_ but feel absolute fear." He exhaled deeply and closed his eyes. "A single Class-1 could face any army this world could offer, Dantian or no. Nuclear weapons be damned when going against a Class-1. They are Gods among men. And you know what the worst thing is? I'm not even exaggerating."

"Christ." Momo said, running her hands through her hair. "We're not gonna have to go against one of them, are we?"

Matt shook his head. "There are only half a dozen, if that, in the world. For them to go into battle would mean war, and we are in no way significant enough to warrant the attention of any of them."

"Just knowing people like that exists is scary." Momo said.

"Yeah, that's one of the reasons I never wanted to tell you any of this, it's terrifying."

"Yes, well, that's enough sharing for one night. I'm going to go eat my dinner and watch Harpies. Do whatever you do in your spare time." She said as she left the room.

"Terrifying indeed." Matt mumbled.

* * *

 **That's all for this chapter. If you liked what you read please review, even just a few words are appreciated.**

 **I don't know how long the next chapter will take, I'm actually surprised I got this one out when I did.**

 **Don't forget to check out the new stuff I put on Deviantart if you're interested.**

 **Tis all for now, I bid you adieu.**


	9. The Somber Tradition

**Published: 7th of May 2016**

 **Sorry for the longer wait for this chapter, my phone broke and I couldn't get a new one for two weeks. Since I write on my phone I couldn't continue with the chapter. As well as that I lost everything I've written before now. Everything. I can get all the old stuff back by copying them from but I had progressed with this chapter and had most of the next chapter of The Chronicles of Orion. Safe to say that I'm annoyed. Anyway, I'll power on with the story.**

 _ **Summary of last chapter:**_ _The chapter starts with Momo by an unconscious Matt's bedside. She reflects over what the she was told by the doctors before being joined by Gogo, Hiro and Tadashi. They converse over what might've happened, only Momo and Gogo knowing what really happened._

 _Meanwhile, Archie dons armour that has been used by the Bowie clan for generations. He goes into the city and stops a bank robbery. Afterwards he declares himself "Apollo" and says that he'll rid San Fransokyo of the vigilante._

 _Momo, Gogo, Hiro and Tadashi see this on the news as it happens, Gogo and Momo of course showing more concern. Matt shortly wakes up and asks if anything happened while he was out. Momo answers no. Later he's discharged with crutches and a recovery plan. Gogo takes Matt and Momo home while Tadashi and Hiro go home on the former's moped._

 _Meanwhile, Hayate Asegawa is trying to reestablish some order in the wake of the reveal of San Fransokyo's second vigilante. He is later shown that Apollo is the bowman who was caught on CCTV the night before._

 _Hiro and Tadashi and having dinner with their aunt. They discuss the vigilante, first and second, and Cass warns the two of them to be safe, especially Hiro. Hiro protests, saying that with a bodyguard, albeit a currently crippled bodyguard, he's perfectly safe. To that Tadashi mocks that he has a man crush on Matt._

 _That night Momo interrogates Matt about Dantian and Barbara Bristol. He explains Dantian's Chinese origins and the Class system, where Class-10 is the weakest class and Class-1 is the strongest. Afterwards she is a little dumbstruck and leaves it there for now._

* * *

 **Chapter** **9: The Somber Tradition**

* * *

 **Unknown POV**

"*huff* *huff* Keep going! Well reach the cliff soon!" I yelled over the roaring tundra, barely able to see a few inches in front of my face. I felt my companion reach out and grab my wrist. I moved my fingers to intertwine with his his and pulled him forward with me. My feet sank to the knee in the snow with every step I took, stunting our pace considerably. I was blindly leading my partner through the mountainous path, not certain at all if we were actually heading to the cliff that housed a cave that would provide shelter for us. I looked over my shoulder to see if he was okay. He was as okay as I could hope, his eyes closed, teeth chattering and nose blue. He was nowhere near as capable as handling the cold as I was, his Lightning type Dantian not suited to protecting him from these conditions as opposed to my Ice Dantian, which thoroughly kept me safe.

After a while more of trudging through the snow, I felt my arm jerk back suddenly. I looked back and saw my partner on his knees, shivering vigorously. His fingers felt almost like solid ice against mine. It took effort to remove my hand from his without hurting him, but when I did I pulled him up to his feet and held his hands in mine. I tried to defrost his extremities by channeling my Dantian into his hands and linking it with his, letting me defrost him. I touched my forehead to his to do the same with his nose. I felt his fingers soften in mine, retaining a little body heat. I pulled my face away and saw that his nose had also retained its colour.

His eyes opened and he looked me straight in the eye, fear was abundant. "Don't worry Juu, we'll get to shelter soon. Just wait." I turned and began my wandering again, hoping for miracle.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

Matt was at home, only having been discharged two days previously. He was leaning against the kitchen counter, next to the stove which had a frying pan with eggs and bacon on it. He looked at the clock on the wall.

 _'Momo should up soon.'_ He though, and he was right too, as Momo just emerged from the basement door in the hall. She still looked like she was asleep as she wheeled towards the table, her hair looking like wild candy-floss and her cat covered pajamas disheveled.

"Morning." Matt uttered.

"Muh." Momo grunted in return. Glasgow then sauntered into the kitchen as well, lying on his stomach next to Momo. Then they both yawned simultaneously. Matt chuckled lightly.

"By the way, I'm not going in today." He said as he used a knife to awkwardly put the breakfast on two plates.

"How come?" Momo inquired, resting her head in her folded arms.

"I've got a couple things to do today." He hopped over to the table with both plates in hand and set them on the table. "I won't be back 'till tonight."

"Did you forget that Marcus McMahon is lecturing today? I thought you wanted to attend." Momo said as she stretched her arms over head, making a cracking sound with her bones.

Matt froze as he was opening a can of dog food. "Crap." He cursed. "I completely forgot. Can't be helped I suppose."

"So you're not gonna go?" She asked through a mouthful.

"No, this can't wait." He sat at the table and began eating himself.

"If you say so. I mean, I'd go for you but I'm busy all day. Since I know we won't be vigilanting for a while I thought I'd take advantage of the free schedule."

"It's fine. There'll always be more lecturers."

"True."

* * *

 **MATT'S POV**

A little later I was on a bus heading into the city, Momo was gonna take a later bus to S.F.I.T without me. I vaguely noticed it was a little cooler today than would be expected in May, by a few degrees at least. The bus journey was a bit of a blur to be honest, I just mechanically showed my student pass, which allowed free commutes to the city by bus, and got off on a stop I was only a little familiar with.

I walked slowly down the morning street, the only people out being those walking to work. I got a few peculiar glances as I walked, though that was nothing new. My obscure hair color, furrowed brows and somewhat militaristic way I carried myself saw to that, though I was probably forgotten in a few seconds after being looked at.

The smell of the industrial city struck my nose. It smelled of concrete, metal and city fumes. I was used to the smell in my many nights spent stop these roofs, to the point where it made me feel like I was comfortably in my element. In a big crowd, in a big city someone can just blend in and be forgotten as just another meaningless face. It was here where anonymity existed.

I eventually made my way to a slightly less crowded part of the city. As I walked on the area began to change, kanji and katakana replaced English on signs, the usually diverse ethnicities of Japanese and Caucasian began to lean more towards the former, and the nattering of passers by was now more often than not in mother tongue. I didn't get to hear it very often. Of course I think and talk to myself in Japanese, but where I haunted English was the more widespread language. Even Momo, who was practically as Japanese in blood as I was, remembered only a few words and phrases.

I soon saw the little corner shop I came out here for. I shouldered the door open and quickly shuffled in before it closed again. A myriad of conflicting smells of candles and incense hit my nostrils, giving me a small bit of a headache. I ignored it for the most part and walked to the front desk. I saw the clerk sitting behind the counter, a small elderly woman, and she had her face obscured by a musty looking old book she was reading.

"*Ahem*" I coughed. She didn't react at all. "*Ahem!*" I coughed a little louder. Again, she didn't stir. I began to get worried that maybe she was dead, after all, she was probably approaching her nineties, if she wasn't in them already. I reached over the counter and poked at the book. It fell into her lap with her hands still clutched to it. My brows furrowed. The old hag was asleep! Her head lolled back as she snored nasally.

"Obaachan?" She didn't move. "Obaachan!" I knocked on the wooden counter this time, hoping it'd be all I needed to do to wake her up.

She jolted awake, looking around quickly to make sense of her surroundings. She looked at me and squinted.

"It's bad luck to wake a sleeping merchant." She in an old voice as she stood and reached into her aqua blue robe. She pulled out a pair of large, round, thick lensed glasses. When she looked through them her eyes looked ten times their size. She stood at a height of about 4"5', her grey-white hair reaching her knees. She closed the book and carefully put it on the counter. She peered to the side and at a calendar, just to double check the reason I was here. "That time again eh?" She asked rhetorically.

"Yeah." I answered blandly. She nodded once and then shuffled into a room behind the counter. I knew she'd be gone for a moment so I looked around the room for a bit. It was full of knick-knacks and items associated with Japanese culture. Looking at it all I could tell a lot was just knock off stuff gotten as to keep tourists interested, but I could see a few genuine articles scattered about the place. A tapestry showing the origins of Shintoism, a statuette of a long dead emperor, a sword that would've been used by an actual samurai.

I hobbled over to that sword and looked up at it. It was, sheathed, mounted on the wall, and had tassels hanging from the end of hilt. I reached up with my good arm, about to run my hand along the copper-brown sheath.

"You touch it you buy it!" The hag said, returning from the back room with a white, fabric bag in hand. I retracted my hand quickly, knowing fine well that if I didn't I'd be leaving this little shop with an empty wallet. Wanting what I came here for, I went back over to the counter. She hopped back up onto the stool she was sleeping on earlier and put the bag on the counter in front of me.

"Thank you for this Obaachan."

"Give my respects and we'll call it even." She gave a small, elusive smile before pushing the bag in my direction. I put my hands together and bowed slightly, then took the bag.

* * *

 **MOMO'S POV**

A while after Matt left to do whatever he does every day this year, I left the house myself. With Matt injured there's gonna be no activity for a while, so I'm gonna take full advantage of the cleared schedule.

I went through the campus with my satchel of books on my lap, heading to the lab. On my way there, walking towards me, I saw Hiro. I waved him over to me. Might as well say hi.

"Hey Hiro." I said. "What brings you here?"

"I was going to see if Matt was going to help with my bot today. Is he at his lab?"

"Sorry, you're out of luck. He had some stuff to do today." I told him. His face fell a bit but he shrugged it off.

"Well how about tomorrow then?"

"Should be good." A thought just popped into my head. "Though I know something you can do that'll make Matt really really happy?" I said, dragging out the first "really".

"Really?" He said, perking up a little bit. "What?"

"You know Marcus McMahon, right?"

"I know the name. Why?"

"Well, he just so happens to be lecturing here today. First time too. Matt planned on going but lo and behold, he forgot. If you attend for him and jot down a few notes, I'm sure Matt would be eternally grateful. What do you say? Sound good?"

"Uh yeah, really good. Where do I go?" I noticed Hiro seemed a bit excited, more than one would be for just attending a lecture.

"Just follow me, it's in our building."

* * *

 **MATT'S POV**

With the bag in hand I continued to walk through the Japan District of San Fransokyo. While the entire city was remodeled after Japan after the 1906 earthquake that devastated San Francisco, there remained this small part of the city where any homesick Japanese native could go and feel a bit closer to home.

After maybe half an hour of walking (slow walking mind you) I could see my destination. A high, black fence surrounded it. I approached the gate, noticing the complete lack of people in this area. I pulled open the latch keeping the gate closed, walked through and closed it again. I sighed in the face of the hill in front of me. I began my commute of the path, things made a little bit harder with the crutches and gimpy leg.

Eventually I reached the top and began walking a thankfully level path. There were many, many stone slabs on either side of the path, most looking like miniature alters. I absentmindedly read the letters and numbers on the slabs as I passed, some more well kept than others, and some much older than others. Sakura blossom leaves decorated the pavement as well, adding a certain sense of serenity to the scenery.

I walked farther and farther down the path until a saw someone else standing not too far away. I knew exactly who it was, and seeing them had me unconsciously lower my guard and soften my brows. As I got closer I managed to make out their finer features, they stood at a height of 6'4", their long black trench coat that waved slightly in the breeze, their short-cut hair as white as mine, upon which rested something resembling a black sea-captain's hat and the white, fingerless gloves they wore on their hands.

It was the person I admired more that anyone else, the person who I knew I could trust art my darkest moments, the only person who could definitely send shivers of fear down my spine; my elder sister, Amaya Raijūmura.

"You're a bit late." She said.

"Bad leg."

"I can see that." Her green eyes looked into mine when I stopped only a feet from her. She smiled at me and reached her hand out, patting my shoulder. "It's good to see you Matty."

"Yeah." I muttered. "Let's get to work anyway." I handed her the bag the old lady gave me earlier. Amaya pulled out a small, wooden bucket with a ladle hanging off the edge. Inside the bucket was a transparent baggie of water.

"Hold." Amaya ordered, holding out the bucket. I slipped both of my arms from the crutches and took hold of the bucket. They fell to the ground with a clank. Amaya set the white bag down, slipped her jacket off her shoulders, folded it, set it on the ground and then put her hat and gloves on top of it. Like me she was very physically fit, shown off by her white tank top and light blue denim skinny jeans.

I noticed something new on her left hand. "You're engaged." I stated matter o' factly.

She looked at the ring herself, as if she was surprised that I managed to make such a deduction. "Yeah, for about a month." She reached her hand into the bucket and pinched the plastic bag, setting the water free.

"Nice guy?" I asked.

"Yeah. I actually chose to say yes." She said, her eyes narrowing for a split second. "Anyway, weeding's not gonna be for at least a year so no reason to worry. I know you have your hands full right now."

"Yeah, thanks, and congratulations I guess."

"Oh cheer up Matty," She practically bounced next to me and put her arm around my shoulders. "you'll always be the number one guy in my life. Besides, I'm sure you'll find love one day too. Speaking of, any girlfriend?" I closed my eyes in annoyance as my brows re-furrowed. She knew just how to push my buttons.

"No." I said plainly.

"...boyfriend?"

"Amaya!" I growled.

"Haha!" She guffawed heartily. "You're so easy to tease little brother. So. Easy. To. Tease." With each word she poked me the side, irritating me further.

 _'Woman's gonna give me angina some day.'_

"In any case, let's get cleaning." She took the bucket from my hands. "I'll water down Mom's, you do Hiroyuki's."

"Right." I answered, turning to the gravestone next to me. Just looking at it turned my throat dry. I crouched down, leg straight as always, scooted practically onto the alter, and wiped away the dust coating the inscription in the upper granite. It read:

 **Raijūmura Hiroyuki**

 **May 6th 2014 ~ July 15th 2024**

 **Beloved Brother**

Amaya had set the bucket between the two graves, leaving me with the ladle while she just used her Dantian to sweep away the dust and dirt. She then handed me a sponge, with which I began to scrub the grave. I glanced to my right to see my sister finish cleaning the other granite alter. It read:

 **Raijūmura Yukino**

 **August 8th 1977 ~ May 6th 2014**

 **Loving Mother,**

 **Missed By The Sons**

 **She Would Never Know**

With the graves clean, Amaya reached into the bag again, this time pulling out two small, browned saucers. She handed one to me and we placed them on the graves. The incense sticks came next, putting them into little holes in the saucers and lighting them.

We stood side by side in silence, heads bowed in respect to our deceased relatives.

"Amaya?" I asked.

"Yeah." She turned to look at me again.

"Please, tell me again." I kept my head bowed, my bangs covering my eyes.

"Sure." She then began to tell me a story, the story of our mother, her life in San Fransokyo, her marriage, Amaya's own memories with her and the months before she died. I hung onto every single syllable, taking in every word despite hearing this exact story five times before.

I didn't need her to tell me anything about Hiroyuki, there was nothing I didn't know about him that wasn't already stored away in my memory.

When she finished, the incense was almost completely burnt out.

"So, anything you want to ask?" She asked me.

"Not really. You?"

She thought for a second. "How's Momo doin'?"

"Fine, I suppose. Nothing's really different."

"How's the vigilante life treatin' you?"

I looked at her, then down at my leg and back up at her. "Very well thanks." She laughed heartily for a few seconds and pat me on the back.

"Yeah, speaking of, who did...that to you?" She asked, vaguely gesturing to my leg.

"That's on a need to know basis." I answered nonchalantly.

"And I'm not need to know?" She said with raised eyebrows. "I'm your sister."

"You're also a member of Aka-Tsuki, and Baxian, that puts you on a need to know basis."

"Hmph!" She said with a smirk. "You know that just proves to me that it was Murphy's Law."

"Tch, whatever." I spat. I looked down and saw that the incense on the graves was burnt out. Amaya noticed as well, pinching the cinders out completely before putting them and everything else we brought back in the bag. She then put her jacket, hat and gloves back on.

"I don't have to leave for another hour or so. Wanna get something to eat?" She asked as we started walking away.

"Sure. What sounds good to you?"

"Anything really. How's school by the way?"

"Recently? Unproductive. I've been stuck in a rut for a while and with Murphy's becoming more active I don't have a lot of time to think about it."

"Shame, you were always coming up with new things when you were a kid."

"Yeah, though Hiroyuki was always better at tinkering away with stuff." I smiled a little at the memory. "Remember when we set our room on fire?"

"Remember? It's practically burned into my memory." She chuckled. I turned my head and glared at her. "Hehe, sorry, poor choice of words." Her eyes drifted to my abdomen for a second. "But you have to admit that it brought a new level to the phrase 'stupidly dangerous'."

"Amaya. It happened. We learned from it. We moved on. Full stop."

"I'm sorry but if you bring it up you must reap the ridicule ya big doof." She said as she nearly doubled over laughing. I felt my cheeks heat up at her words.

When we reached the gate of the graveyard Amaya was still chuckling away to herself. I reached for the handle and pulled it open.

"Well if that's how you wanna be, then fine. I have something very important to tell you, _Sister_." I closed the gate again with Amaya still on the other side.

"What's that, _Brother_?" Amaya said, her chuckling ceasing but still with a grin on her face. "Why'd ya close the gate on me?"

My face adorned a grin of it's own, a devious one at that. "The Game." I wasted no time in crutching away, knowing that every second'd count.

"Son of a bitch!" I heard Amaya declare behind me.

"No but I'm the brother of one!" I shot back. I went faster, though I was soon stopped when my crutches were suddenly fused to the ground. I looked down and saw that ice coated the ends of the crutches and the ground around them. I tried yanking them free but they didn't budge.

"Four years." I heard Amaya say. She was slowly walking towards me, hand outstretched and head tilted forward, hair covering her eyes. "For four years, I had forgotten, for four years I was blissfully unaware. You. Are. So. **Dead**."

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

A little while later Amaya and I were in a small restaurant, waiting for our food to come. I could feel a sore lump forming on the crown of my head from when she hit me. She was rather mad about me reminding her of "The Game".

"So anyway," She said, interrupting my train of thought. "I thought I'd mention that a friend of mine was in town recently. You remember Ingrid, right?"

"The German with the death fetish? Yeah I remember. Kinda hard to forget." I said, half mumbling the last bit.

Amaya snorted at my words. "I'd hardly call it a fetish but yeah, her. I asked her to check things out here and make sure you weren't being overwhelmed. She came back to me with a glowing report by the way."

"I thought we agreed you and Baxian would stay out of my business." I frowned.

Amaya then began speaking lowly in English on the off chance someone would overhear us. "It wasn't Baxian, or even Aka-Tsuki involved. I simply asked my friend, who is a master of disguise, to check up on my little brother as a favour. Then you beheaded her."

"I behead- never mind, I've decided I don't care."

Then a waitress brought over our food. We continued to talk for a while. Amaya asked a few more questions, which I dodged for the most part, before I decided to ask about her fiancé.

"He's Russian," She said, gulping down a glass of water. "Dimitri Entchev."

"Russian eh? Aren't they mostly..." I said, running off my sentence, but I knew Amaya knew what I meant.

"It's become slightly less so in recent years. The branch of Aka-Tsuki in Japan has expanded to the branch in Russia to fortify it. Some came back to Japan."

"And since you're the Baxian of Japan you'd have to have agree to this." I looked down at my empty plate. "You know what they're like. How do you know they're trustworthy?"

Amaya leaned back and smiled. "I have faith in people. You should try it sometime."

"Hm, people haven't given me much a reason to."

"Do you even look for it, Matty?"

"Don't need to."

"Matt, look at me." She ordered. I did, only to see her hand right in front of my eyes. She flicked me right in centre of my forehead, putting more strength than necessary into it.

"Don't be so pessimistic!"

"Damn it Amaya." I grumbled, rubbing the red spot forming on my head. "I'm not a child anymore. You can't just hit me when I disagree with- ow!" She kicked my uninjured leg under the table. "You are 28! Act like it!"

"You are 16! Act like it!" She spat back at me. I was glad the restaurant was almost empty aside from the staff and a couple of uncaring customers. I didn't want to cause a scene.

"Psycho." I mumbled under my breath.

"What was that?" She asked sharply.

"Nothing!" I answered quickly.

"That's what I thought." She said, smug dripping from her expression.

A little later we left the restaurant. It was the late afternoon now, so more people were out and about on the streets. We left the Little Japan area after walking for a bit. Amaya was now carrying her trench-coat over her shoulder because of the sun beating down on us.

"God it's boiling." She said, fanning her face with her hat. "How do you deal with this?"

"Not having ice running through your veins is a good start." I smirked.

"Less of the sass, Sparky. Anyway," She looked at her watch. "I need to be going. But before I do," She reached into her coat pocket. "here."

She handed me an envelope. "I thought I told you that-"

"I don't care. Take it." I begrudgingly took the envelope from her hand and put it in my pocket.

"Now, where can I- ah there!" She sauntered quickly into a quiet alleyway. "See ya Matty." Her trench-coat flapped behind her as she went in. I walked by, looking into the empty alley.

"See you, Ame." I sighed and continued walking. I decided to just walk around the city for a while, before heading it home before it got dark.

After a while of wandering I heard someone call me. "Matt? Is that you?" I looked behind me and saw Hiro's aunt standing there with a burlap sack under each arm. "Hi."

"Hi. Cassidy, right?" I asked, turning to face her.

"Cass is fine." She said. "I'd have thought you'd be at school right now. Hiro went out earlier to see if you'd work with him today."

I felt a small twinge of guilt when she said that. "Sorry, but I had some things to do today."

"I'm sure he'll forgive you." She chuckled. "If you want to come back to the shop he might be there by now."

I was a little tempted to take her up on her offer, but now, with my leg...

"Sorry...Cass, but I have something I need to do today. Tell Hiro I said hi though."

"Oh, okay. See ya later then." She nodded in goodbye and I gave a wave.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

It was about 6 when I got home, though it was still bright out. When I walked through the door I was greeted by the sound of 2 people laughing.

"Hello?" I called.

"Matt!" I heard Momo yell from the sitting room. "Get in here!"

I walked into the room and saw Momo, obviously, Glasgow and, most surprisingly, Hiro.

"Hey." He said.

"Hey." I replied with a frown. I got rid of it and asked; "What're you doing here, Hiro." I did my best not to seem patronising bit I couldn't help if I did.

"Well Hiro here went to San Fran Tech today but _somebody_ wasn't around." I rolled my eyes at her. "He went to Marcus McMahon's lecture for you and took notes, pretty great notes I might add."

"Really?" I asked the boy.

"Uh, yeah. It was pretty interesting." He reached over to his backpack and took out a folder with about two dozen or so sheets of paper. "Here."

"Thanks." I said, taking the notes and skimming through them. "I don't know what to say."

"It's cool, just let me know when your leg gets better. I may our may not have had an epiphany last night regarding my new bot." He smirked.

"Actually, speaking of, I went to hospital to check up today and it turns out that my leg is nowhere near as bad as they thought. I can take off the cast whenever I feel like it." I lied.

"Really?" Momo said skeptically. "That's a relief."

"Yeah, it is. So if you wanna go bot fighting sometime soon just let me know." I told Hiro.

"Thanks man." He said with a smile. "Anyway I have to go. My aunt wants me home before dark, especially with two vigilantes running around now." He said as he walked to the front door. "I'll see you later Matt, Momo."

"Bye Hiro!" Momo yelled.

"Bye." I said quietly, still shellshocked at the "two vigilantes" comment Hiro just made. The front door slammed shut.

"Soooo..." Momo said. "How was your day?"

"What did he mean by "two vigilantes"?"

"I had a good day myself, lectures, notes, tech. The works."

"There's a second vigilante?"

"Good weather too, sun shining, clear blue skies..."

"Momo?"

"Yes?"

"Explain. Now."

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

Momo explained everything, about the guy calling himself "Apollo" and his pledge to take me down. After she showed me the footage I then recognised that the guy was Archibald Bowie, the guy who destroyed Hiro's robot. Momo was annoyed that I didn't tell her about a guy who knew our secret straight away, but she let it go since she kept Apollo from me.

"And when you said that your leg was better, did you mean it?" Momo asked me.

"Yeah."

"But how? That cut _was_ as bad as we thought, it doesn't just _get_ better!"

"Does it matter, Momo? It's better and that's all you need to know." I said, leaning back into the couch.

"I thought we got past this point!" She exclaimed. "This whole thing where you keep secrets from me, 'cause, ya know, we're a team!"

I exhaled through my nose, frustrated by Momo's nagging. "Fine, if it's so important to you; it was my sister."

"Your sister!" Momo yelled, making Glasgow jump.

"Yeah, my sister, she was in town today and I met up with her."

"That does nothing to explain the Jesus leg."

"You remember Dantian, right?"

"Of course I do. The ancient China magic."

"I also said that it was incredibly diverse and manifested differently in different people."

"Uh-huh."

"Well our mother had a particularly powerful, pure energy type Dantian that gave her extraordinary longevity, and made her cells multiply much much faster than an ordinary human. Because of that she healed at an extraordinary rate and she passed that onto her kids, though in a much more diluted form. Even though I've repressed my Dantian for so long it's still active within me, and being around my sister only made it faster."

"Woooow." Momo said. "So what about the rest of you?"

"My back, arm and chest were healed a little but not a whole lot. My knee injury was much more shallow."

"I see. So we can take off the cast?"

"Yeah, but don't break it, don't want people getting suspicious."

"Gotchya." Momo winked. "Hey what's that?" She asked, pointing to the envelope poking out of my pocket.

"My sister gave it to me." I answered plainly. "It's nothing." I pushed it further into my pocket.

Momo narrowed her eyes skeptically at me, stroking her chin with her thumb and index finger and hmmm-ing. "Anyway..." She sidetracked. "what sounds good for dinner to you?"

"Anything's good." I said, closing my eyes and just wanting to rest for a bit.

"I'll see what we have." Momo said as she left the room.

I pulled the envelope out of my pocket. It said "Matty" on the front in neat, calligraphic writing. I ripped it open and pulled out the contents: a memory stick, and a card. The card read:

 _ **To Matty**_

 _ **I found this for you and thought it might brighten up your day a bit.**_

 _ **Happy 16th Birthday**_

 _ **Amaya**_

I looked at the memory stick and thought that I might as well see what was on it. Amaya thought it might make me feel better so it was with a look.

I grabbed Momo's laptop from the side of the couch and turned it on. I inserted the stick and fished out it's contents. It was a file simply labeled "Mom". I opened it and was instantly greeted by a video. I thick knot tied in my throat.

On a shaky camera I could see a beautiful, white haired woman sitting serenely on a couch, affectionately rubbing her round belly. "M-m-mom." I said, my breathing escalating.

 _"So Mom, have you decided on names yet?"_ I heard the camera person say.

"Amaya." I whispered.

 _"Well, I've decided to name one of them for me, and one for your father."_ My Mother said.

I gulped, leaning close into the screen.

 _"We'll name the one born first "Hiroyuki", sort of like my name but more boyish."_

I sniffed back a little dribble that decided leak from my nose.

 _"And the second one, your babiest baby brother, "Juusuke Matthew" for your father and mine."_

I subconsciously wiped away at an irritation running down my face, getting my hand wet.

 _"Sweety, why are you recording me?"_

 _"Cause I wanna."_ Mom chuckled at that. She then began humming quietly, not stopping rubbing her belly. That humming soon turned into a song.

 _"Nen-nen yo okororiyo, suya suya to oyasuminasai, nen-nen yo okororiyo, yasashi hito ni sodachimasu you ni_

 _Kami-sama arigatou, enjeru mo arigatou, nen-nen yo okororiyo, mama no mune de oyasuminasai._

 _Nen-nen yo okororiyo, suya suya to oyasuminasai, nen-nen yo okororiyo, uruseru hito ni sodachimasu you ni_

 _Kami-sama arigatou, derai mo arigatou, nen-nen yo okororiyo, mama no mune de oyasuminasai."_

She went on for another two or three minutes like that. At some point Momo came in and asked half a question before leaving abruptly after seeing me smiling at the computer screen with tears running down my face.

I don't know how many times I replayed that video, but in that moment I couldn't care about anything else. Even if Murphy herself came up to me and slapped me with a fish I wouldn't care. For the first time in my life I finally heard my mother's voice, and for a few beautiful minutes every other problem and pressure that was bearing down on me evaporated. I didn't feel tired, hungry, vengeful or angry, for once, I was truly happy.

* * *

 **That's all for this chapter. A rather exposition filled one but it's necessary. I particularly liked the ending with the lullaby.**

 **Just so everybody remembers, Matt's mother's name is "Yukino" and his father is "Juusuke", just in case anybody forgot.**

 **Please ignore any grammar and/or spelling mistakes, I barely read over the chapter.**

 **Don't expect the next chapter to be out until mid to late June. I have exams and whatnot so I'm gonna be studying quite a bit.**

 **Until next time,**

 **I bid you adieu.**


	10. The Ambush

**Published: 30th June 2016**

 _ **Summary of last chapter:**_ _The chapter starts within the POV of an unknown person. They are trudging through a tundra with someone called "Juu". They are simultaneously looking for shelter and keeping Juu from freezing to death._

 _We then see Matt going through the morning motions with Momo as he tells her he won't be going into SFIT that day because be has things to do. He gets on a bus and heads to the city._

 _He makes his way into a Japanese-dominant district of San Fransokyo, and then to a little shop which is ran by an elderly woman. The woman gives Matt a bag and he leaves._

 _Meanwhile, Momo goes to SFIT and notes that Matt does this every year on May 6th. She runs into Hiro and tells him that Matt won't be going in, which disappoints him. Momo then informs him of a lecturer that Matt was missing and that he'd be grateful if Hiro'd go in his place. He happily does._

 _Matt continued his way to a cemetery, where he meets his sister, Amaya Raijūmura. They clean two graves, one with the name "Yukino Raijūmura" and "Hiroyuki Raijūmura", the pair's mother and brother. From the dates it was seen (from info given later in the chapter)that Hiroyuki was Matt's twin brother, and that Yukino died on the day of their birth. Matt and Amaya catch up, she says that she's engaged, before she needs to leave again._

 _When Matt gets home, Hiro is there and he gives Matt the notes he took down from the lecture, and he in turns says that his leg would be better sooner than expected. As Hiro leaves he mentions the second vigilante. Momo reluctantly explains the situation regarding Apollo and Matt also says that he already knows who it is, Archibald Bowie._

 _Momo knows that Matt's leg couldn't be better by then and asks why he said that. Matt admits that he was with his sister that day, and that get Dantian resonated with his, temporarily rejuvenating a healing factor within his body that they inherited from their mother and her strong life force._

 _After that Matt opens an envelope Amaya gave him earlier. It turns out to be a card wishing him a happy 16th birthday, and a memory stick. On the memory stick is a video of Matt's mother, still pregnant with Matt and Hiroyuki, telling Amaya what their names would be and then singing a lullaby._

 _The chapter ends with Matt speechless and tearful at the first time he heard his mother's voice._

* * *

 **Chapter Ten: The Ambush**

* * *

Hayate Asegawa walked through the dark, deserted streets of San Fransokyo in the middle of the night. He kept his wits about him, constantly on guard and ever prepared to deal with the slightest issue that could arise.

He turned into an alleyway, at the end of which was a seemingly unimportant wooden door. He strutted confidently up to it and knocked. It opened slightly, stopped by a chain latch. The person behind the door peeked out. Her visible eye widened and she shut the door immediately. A second later the door opened completely.

"Commis-!" She suddenly stifled herself when Asegawa raised his hand in a gesture of silence. He walked right passed the woman and down the stairs that followed. The woman followed him.

"She's here, yes?"

"Y-yes, sir. Though she's very busy with-"

"That doesn't matter."

The woman walked him to a door with a sign saying "NO ENTRY" in large letters. He didn't hesitate in opening the door and sauntering right in, leaving the woman outside.

"Anderson."

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

Matt was also out late at night. He was currently standing on top of a dilapidated building close to the docks.

"Anywhere else?" He asked Eyes.

"Shouldn't be, the 6 reported missing the last week were all in there. The police are on their way as per the norm."

"You've noticed, right? They've been quieter than usual lately."

"Yeah. Usually we'd have two groups of 4 or 5 kidnapped a week, down to only 1 now."

"It's annoying."

"What, you want people to be kidnapped?"

Matt rolled his eyes. "I just find it all annoying, the feeling that we're being...manipulated. Barbara Bristol said it herself, I'm alive because it's what Murphy wants. She easily has the resources and manpower to have dozens of people captured in a single day. Of course that's too brazen a move but you know what I mean."

Eyes sighed. "I do, and I'm afraid that there's nothing we can do about it now. You know that as well as I do. Just come back home, we've got presentations next week and you really need to start working on your project if want your grant money."

"Hm." Matt grunted, leaping from the building onto another one in the direction of home.

After a few minutes Matt began to feel a low rumble in his abdomen, accompanied by a minute twinge of pain. He disregarded it as hunger pangs or some other negligible bother until that pain began to creep its way up to his chest.

'No.' He thought, alarmed. 'Of all times!' He stopped on top of an apartment complex and fell to one knee with laboured breathing.

"Vig? You okay?" Eyes asked.

"I'm fine." He said through grit teeth. "It's nothing." He stood and made to jump before the pain suddenly and severely spiked in intensity. He could feel his own Dantian growing erratic add it spilled profusely from his body. He was forced to all fours, digging his fingers into the concrete beneath him. As the pain began to spread to his head, the world began to fall from around him, the skyscrapers of the grand city fading away, only to be quickly replaced by the mountainous structures of an icy tundra.

"No!" He grunted.

He began to feel suffocated! As if ice water was beginning to force its way into his lungs and freezing there. He pulled off the helmet to try and help but it did no good.

"Matt!" Eyes yelled from the other end of the com. She could see Matt from the helmet's camera.

Matt closed his eyes and began to concentrate solely on reeling in his erratic energy. After a few long, unkind minutes, the pain began to recede back into his abdomen and dull its torturous spike.

He slowly regained his bearings, standing and picking up his helmet, placing it over his sweaty head.

"What was that!?" Eyes asked in a high pitch.

"Something annoying." Matt answered, his breathing beginning to level out. He felt another twinge of pain, though this one a bit more material and with a simple explanation: his sliced chest.

When he got home he changed out of his vigilante suit, showered, and joined Momo in her room/basement.

"You sure you're okay?" She asked.

"I'm fine." She raised an eyebrow at him. "Honest. Anyway, go to bed, you look exhausted."

She scoffed. "You're in no position to tell _anyone_ to get some sleep." Even so, she wheeled over to her bed, which was already occupied by Glasgow.

Matt left and went up to his room again. He sat on his bed cross legged and closed his eyes. He relaxed his body and cleared his head of as much thought as he could. After a few moments of concentration he was in a meditative state, focusing on his Dantian, reeling it in and constricting it in to his body. He visualized it as pulling a layer from the surface of his skin down to the marrow of his bones and wrapping his bones in chains and locking them down with an keyless lock.

He kept this up for nearly half an hour before he felt safe enough to stop. He placed his hand over his naval and exhaled deeply. Then the memory of the upcoming presentations came back, causing him to rub his temples in annoyance. He pulled his own laptop from the foot of his bed and opened it, determined to try and improve his creation in some manner.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

"Sooo, Asegawa...how much compensation will I receive for this experiment of yours?"

"This is more than an experiment, Anderson. This is a matter of public safety." Asegawa said. Anderson looked over her shoulder skeptically at Asegawa.

"Is it now? Cos last time I heard neither the Vigilante nor this "Apollo" have hurt, maimed or murdered a single person that didn't have it comin' in the first place.

"As long as I am commissioner, vigilante justice will not be tolerated in this city." Asegawa stood proud, chest puffed and hands behind his back.

"Hm." Anderson scoffed. "Back to my question: how much will I be paid?"

"As much as is needed."

Anderson stood. She skulked over to Asegawa and began walking in a circle around him. She was a middle aged, stood tall with auburn hair that was cut short and black eyes that were in a constant state of calculation. Her voice was gruff and sandy, and she had a lollipop sticking out of her mouth.

"And what "moral" obligation do I have in joining your "crusade"?" She asked, using air quotes.

"By your morality, or mine?"

"That _is_ quite a question isn't it?" She strutted back over to her chair. "To be honest I knew it was only a matter of time before you were desperate enough to come to me, so here." She wheeled her chair out of the way to let Asegawa look at the screen. "Satisfactory?" She asked with a smirk.

"Yes." Asegawa said, turning away. "How much will it cost to make 5?"

"5 eh, you're eager to catch these people aren't you?" She raised a sly eyebrow. "We'll talk logistics later, for now, I just wanna see 'em in action."

"Hm." Asegawa grunted, making to leave.

"You'll wanna clear a couple blocks for 'em, they ain't subtle!" She yelled up the stairs.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

The next night, Hiro had called Matt to see if he was available for bot fighting. After consulting with Momo he decided to say yes, since no urgent Murphy's Law matters needed attending.

"So, you finished the new bot?" Matt asked as they walked down the street?

"Nowhere near." Hiro shrugged. "I only built a second Megabot cos I need the money. How's your leg?"

"Fine, still need to be careful but fine."

"So, what do you think of Apollo?" Hiro asked suddenly.

Matt sighed internally. He last thing he wanted was to discuss that guy. He decided to mess with Hiro a bit. "Well, of all the Sun gods, he's my second favorite. You just can't beat Ra."

Hiro rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean."

"Hm. I think he's an idiot, calling out the Vigilante like that," It felt weird to Matt to refer to himself as "the Vigilante" whilst not actually referring to himself. "with the police and the abductions, he's just throwing oil onto the fire."

"I didn't think about it like that." Hiro said with a thoughtful look. "So are you Team-Vigilante or Team-Apollo?"

"Team-what?"

"Team-Vigilante or Team-Apollo? Everybody's taking a side. How haven't you seen it? It's all over social media."

"I don't bother with any of that." He sighed, feeling a migraine coming on.

"So which are you?"

Matt gave Hiro a very unimpressed look. Though if he had to choose, the answer was obvious. "Team-Vigilante I suppose. At least he actually does good."

"Same." Hiro said. "The Vigilante looks way more badass."

Matt couldn't exactly describe it, but Hiro's words made him feel something in his chest. Pride maybe?

"What's so badass about him?" Matt asked, deciding to stroke his own ego for a bit.

"Uh, everything. The black suit, the mask, the sword! Not to mention the fact that he based his look on the demon that's legend says caused the 1906 earthquake that destroyed San Francisco!"

"You don't actually believe that, do you?" Matt asked.

"No, but it's still cool. But because of his look, some people think that he's the reincarnation of the demon, come back to finish the job it started over a century ago!" Hiro said, putting on an ominous voice.

"Hm, who knows." Matt chuckled. It was true that Momo based the mask and colour scheme of his outfit on the legendary demon, she wanted to "get the conspiracy theorists to go nutty".

"Ooh it's just down here!" Hiro said, turning into an alley.

It wasn't long before Hiro put on his timid act, Megabot was in the ring, he faked a loss, bet more and won. The guy, a black haired twenty-something with a goatee, took it fairly well, only walking away with a broken bot and a disgruntled look on his face.

Hiro was getting a lot of dirty looks from the crowd. Obviously hustling was very frowned upon in these parts. Matt pulled Hiro by the hood as the boy was counting his earnings and excited from the alley.

"That was awesome! That guy is, was, loaded!" He laughed aloud, putting the large wad of cash in his bag.

Matt narrowed his eyes sharply at Hiro, glaring holes into the back of his head. _'That laugh...'_ He shook his head vigorously, clearing it of all thoughts he had in the last 10 seconds. _'It's all in your head.'_ He tentatively placed his hand on his abdomen before gripping his jacket tight. He shook his head again and decided to focus on the current objective.

"Where to next?" Matt asked.

"Uhh-" Hiro looked around, trying to make sense of his surroundings. "This way!" He jaywalked across the road in the direction of the next bot fight. Matt sauntered after him at a leisurely pace, finding Hiro's overexcitedness amusing.

"You know, I can't very well be your bodyguard if you're the length of the Nile ahead of me!" He yelled at Hiro.

The boy flashed Matt a cheeky grin as he turned into an alleyway, gesturing for Matt to follow him in. He walked towards the alley, and when he was only a few metres away his phone went off in his pocket. It was Momo.

"Yeah?" He answered.

"Matt! Get Hiro and get away! Now!" She yelled.

"What? Why?"

"You know how I make extra money by hacking in and sending false emails and stuff like that?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah well, I was given one a few days ago, I got an IP address and a name and an email to send! The name was "Hiro Hamada" but I didn't remember that "Hamada" was _that_ Hiro's name and "Hiro" is common enough so I didn't think much of it and this morning when I remembered it I slept in and didn't check a whole lot before sending the email but I just checked it now and I'm pretty sure you're about to walk into a trap that was disguised as a bot fight!"

Matt hung up. Quickening his pace he entered the alley and called for Hiro. Matt ran to a set of descending stone steps and went down, meeting a metal double-door at the bottom.

"Hiro!" He banged on the door, hearing a lot of commotion on the other side.

"Matt!" He heard Hiro's muffled cry from the other side. "Help!"

Matt stood back a couple metres, put one leg behind him and got low to the ground, building up tension. He propelled himself forward, tucking his limbs into his body and then kicking out his leg with as muck force as he could as he came in contact with the door. It worked easily. The doors blew of their hinges, sent flying out and hitting a pair of unsuspecting men.

All eyes were immediately on him, all two dozen pairs of them, including Hiro's, who was trying (and failing) to climb up a brick wall while those occupying the area tried to grab him down. They were all in a yard of sorts, closed off by all directions, the kind of place a bot fight would actually be held. There were also about two dozen men and couple women occupying the area, none of whom were bot fighting. In fact, it looked like that before Matt made his entrance they had all backed Hiro up against a wall.

"What's going on here?" Matt demanded, standing up from the crouch his kick landed him in.

"Get out'a here!" One of the men barked. "This ain't got nothin' to do with you." The man tried to look threatening with his muscles and metal rod, but Matt wasn't the least bit intimidated.

"It has everything to do with me. I'm supposed to protect that guy," He pointed to Hiro. "and from the looks of it you're about to hurt him. Care to explain?"

"No!" The man said. "Leave or you're next." The rest of the mob all seemed to be of a similar mindset, a lot throwing threatening glares at Matt.

Matt sighed. "If all of you don't leave, then I'll make you regret it."

That bold statement aroused a round of laughter from the mob.

"Matt go!" Hiro shouted, a foot slipping from its hold. "You can't take them all! Just save yourself!"

"You shut it!" He pointed an accusing finger at Hiro. "I told you not to go too far from me and look what happens: you're about to get lynched by an angry mob of cowardly, third-rate gangsters." Matt said, trying to goad one of them into attacking.

"That's it!" The guy from earlier yelled, charging at Matt with his rod above his head. As he swung Matt ducked, reared his fist back the struck up into the solar plexus, winding the man and possibly breaking a couple of ribs. The man stood his ground though, and made to hammer down on Matt's head with the rod. Without much effort Matt kicked the man upside the jaw, sending him flying up and back, cracking quite a few teeth.

The mob turned to Matt now, weapons consisting of metal rods, baseball bats and knives.

"Are we really doing this?" Matt asked. "Have it your way." He adopted a fighting stance.

Two more men ran at him, battle cries ringing in the air. Matt charged as well, meeting the two much sooner than they expected, giving him the opportunity to bury his fists into their guts, knocking the wind out of them. He ran at the crowd, punching a guy in face and elbowing a person trying to attack from behind. Someone swung a knife at him. He sidestepped him, grabbing his wrist and forcing the man to stab another in the shoulder. He sidekicked a would-be attacker in chest, poked the eyes of someone to his left and then jabbed her in the throat with the same fingers. Quickly spinning 180 degrees on his heel, Matt hit someone on the neck with the blade of his hand.

Hiro watched in utter awe as Matt easily made his way through the mob, taking out each one with a single decisive blow. He moved smoothly, each and every move serving a purpose that took another attacker out of the fight, almost like a dance routine that was tediously practiced until one moved without a single hair out of place.

As Matt flipped a large man from behind over his shoulder and slammed his body heavily into the concrete, he looked briefly out of the corner of his eye, just to see that Hiro was okay. He felt someone from behind coming at him with a knife. Before that though, he snap kicked a guy in front of him in the balls, sending him to his knees, where Matt broke his nose with the heel of his hand. He moved his head only a few inches to the side to avoid the knife from behind, letting the attacker's arm go right by his ear. He then grabbed the forearm and jerked it down, breaking the arm by using his own shoulder as the fulcrum. Matt snatched the falling knife out of the air, immediately needing it to block an incoming rod. He then ran the knife down the length of the rod, leaving sparks in it's trail, and slicing at the guys fingers. He then stabbed the man in the side, right in the fleshy love-handle, and left it there.

There were now only 7 left, each of them smartly keeping a distance between themselves and Matt.

"Fuck it!" A man holding a thick cricket bat declared. He then charged at Hiro, the bat hoisted high. Hiro tried to scramble away but found himself cornered by a dumpster and a wall. Seeing no way out before he was struck, he curled up and blocked his face with his arms, hoping to minimise the damage.

The abrupt sound of wood smashing against flesh and bone was heard, but Hiro felt nothing. He peeked up to see what had happened, only to find his face a mere couple inches from Matt's chest, who was hunched over him with his hands against the wall. He quickly looked up into Matt's eyes, gulping.

"You okay, kid?" He asked.

Hiro said nothing, his heart still racing from the thought of his skull being beaten in only a few seconds ago.

"I'll take your silence as a yes."

The man raised his bat high again. Matt was about to turn and break his face with his fist, but it was at that exact second when pain exploded into his abdomen. It was far stronger than before, and so much more sudden. Matt compared it to what he thought rats eating and scratching their way through his intestines would feel like. The bat struck his back again, harder this time. He could feel the wound on his lower back wince under the gauze placed over it.

Due to his distraction, Matt barely noticed the yelling girl coming towards Hiro and him. She had knucklebusters on her hands. Matt knew this for certain when she punched him in the left side of his chest, practically right on top of his deep wound. He grunted in pain.

Hiro began to push on abdomen. "Move, Matt move!"

But he couldn't. The paralyzing pain from his abdomen seeped into his chest. As well as that he could feel blood leaking from the stitches on his chest. He then felt a pulsing pain in the back of his head, likely from from the girl's knucklebusters.

"Get out of my way!" The girl barked. She punched again, directly into the wound as the bat smacked into his back again. The two attacks, as well as Matt's weakening constitution, caused him to buckle under his knees, but he refused to fall down.

Hiro just stared up at Matt, his eye scrunched tight and his expression betraying pain.

 _'Why doesn't he fight back?'_ Hiro thought. He then felt a warm wetness on his hand. _'Blood?'_ He wasn't wounded at all, then he felt another drop. He looked at Matt's chest, and saw a damp patch soaking through his jacket. Hiro then remembered Matt's injury. He had to do something!

Without thinking scrambled from underneath Matt, latched onto the woman's legs and bit her kneecap, collapsing her to the ground.

"Hiro." Matt grunted. The boy had moved to straddle her chest and began punching her face.

"Get him!" The man beating him yelled.

"No!" Matt declared. Using immense willpower, he fought past the pain, composed his form, and with a yell, delivered the hardest punch he could muster into the man's face. He was sent flying into the far wall with an extremely audible crack. Hiro looked at him wide-eyed, giving the woman a chance to hit him in the face.

Matt's breathing was laboured, deeply so. His back and chest were once again bleeding, and he'd need new stitches.

"Leave." He growled. "LEAVE! Or you'll end up like the rest of them!"

The remainder of the mob looked conflicted. A few took cautious steps back but one was persistent. A boy in his late teens charged at Matt but he tripped over an unconscious person, leading to his head colliding with Matt's raised knee.

"Anyone else?"

The 5 remaining, including the woman Hiro was scuffling with, all decided wisely. They ran up the stairs and out of sight. Hiro picked himself up rubbed his face where he was punched.

"Hey, that was-" He started but stopped when Matt fell to his hands and knees. "Matt!" He ran to his side. "I'll call an ambulance." He took his phone out of his pocket and was about to dial 911 but was stopped when Matt grabbed his wrist.

"No." He growled.

"But-"

"No! Your brother has medical experience, right?"

"Yeah but-"

"He'll do."

"Matt, I don't think-" Hiro stopped saying what he was about to say when Matt's forehead hit the ground, the teen emitting a painful groan.

Matt clutched his head in both hands. The pain was spreading to his head. He could feel immense pressure behind his eyes, building up to the point he felt they'd pop out of their sockets. He lay there, on the ground, letting out pained grunts and groans as Hiro watched, unable to help him.

After a few long minutes Matt shakily rose to his feet. The pain had mercifully passed.

"Back to your place." Matt stated.

"Back to my place."

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

Back at Hiro's place, Tadashi and Cass were waiting by the door, Hiro having called beforehand to let Tadashi know to get ready.

"What happened to you guys?" Cass said worriedly, approaching the pair in her night gown and slippers. She cupped Hiro's face, inspecting the forming black eye. Much to his surprise she then cupped Matt's face. Her eyes narrowed when she saw blood stained hair on the back of his head. She also noticed how he constantly kept his hand on the left side of his chest.

"We were ambushed." Matt answered. "I recognised a lot of them as bot fight you-know-who has vexed."

Hiro snapped his head around to look at Matt. He didn't recognise a single one of them. He looked down, feeling immense guilt that it was his fault Matt got hurt.

"You poor thing." Cass said. "Come on, Tadashi'll fix you right up." She took his free hand and tentatively guided Matt away. Matt would never admit it but he blushed slightly at Cass' treatment of him. He wasn't really used to being treated...gently. Sure Momo was always worried if he got injured, but she hid it under miles of stoicism, sarcasm and chastisement. Cass was so open about it. He didn't really know how to react.

He was guided to the bathroom upstairs, where medical equipment was laid out on a tray.

"Just take off your jacket and shirt and sit yourself on the counter." Tadashi said, pulling on a pair of latex gloves.

Matt unzipped his jacket and shook it the rest of the way off. He was about to pull off his shirt before Hiro interrupted.

"Let me." He said, pulling up Matt's shirt from behind. When the blood-stained shirt was off, Hiro's breath hitched. Matt wondered why for a second before realising it was probably because of his scars.

"How did-" Hiro asked slowly, reaching out and lightly grazing the thick scar on Matt's back.

"Don't." Matt said quickly.

"S-sorry." He retracted his hand.

"Hiro, could you give us the room?" Tadashi said.

"Sure." He said, leaving the room.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

After Tadashi gave Matt new stitches, Cass offered to drive him home. He accepted the offer, decidedly not wanting to make the journey by foot.

"Thanks for the lift." He said as he got out.

"It's the least I could do after what you did tonight. Make sure to take care of yourself, okay."

"Okay...Cass." He closed the door and waved to Cass as she drove away.

Inside the house Momo was waiting for him in the living room. She immediately turned to him with a very guilt stricken face.

"I am soooo so sorry." She said.

"You fucked up." Matt said, plopping down on the couch. "A lot."

"I know I know I know! I promise I won't send you into anymore ambushes...ambushes involving Hiro anyway."

"I hope not." Matt closed his eyes. They lingered shut for a few seconds, the lids feeling heavy. He quickly opened them wide before he was tempted!

"You okay?" Momo asked, wheeling next to him. "You seem off."

"I just need to meditate for a bit, I'll be fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

* * *

 **That is all for this chapter. I'm relatively happy with it, though I feel like the ending was a bit abrupt.**

 **Please review, it motivates me greatly.**

 **That is all for now,**

 **I bid you adieu.**


	11. The Projects

**Published: 15th of August 2016**

 **Not gonna lie lads and lassies, I'm a wee bit disappointed that I got nary a review for the last 2 chapters. I don't expect to be showered with praise and complimented on every syllable I write, but even just a single sentence review is wonderful to read cos I it lets me know that my work is appreciated. I put work into these chapters and I am constantly ironing out the details of this story arc and future arcs to come. So at the end of this chapter, if only a couple of you review, even if it's criticism, it'll be welcomed.**

 **Anyway, moving on from my narcissism, let the chapter commence!**

* * *

 _ **Summary of last Chapter:**_ _Hayate Asegawa is in the nighttime streets of San Fransokyo, and meets up with a woman called 'Anderson'._

 _Matt, meanwhile, is making his way home after dispatching a Murphy's law group. He and Momo note that Murphy's Law activity is decreasing to half what it was only a couple months ago. Before they could discuss it further Matt began to feel an intense pain in his abdomen, then it spread to chest and then his head. It forced him to his hands and knees and it lasted many minutes before it stopped._

 _Back with Asegawa and Anderson, they are discussing terms for an 'experiment' Asegawa is planning, with which he plans to get rid of the Vigilante. Anderson states that she expected him so she already designed something fitting Asegawa's wants. He requests 5 and she says to make sure they have a lot of room to work._

 _The following night, Matt's on guard duty. Whilst he and Hiro are on their way to the first fight and Hiro reveals that there is an online spilt, people who are on 'Team-Vigilante' and 'Team-Apollo' . At the bot fight Hiro goes through his typical act and they then make their way to the second fight._

 _Hiro, excited, ran ahead of Matt to the next fight. As he is about to get there only a moment after Hiro, Matt gets acne urgent call from Momo saying that this fight is a fake and she was the one who sent Hiro a fake email, not knowing it was 'that' Hiro. He rushes in, kicking down the door, and confronts a mob of about two dozen people. They refuse to back off so he starts beating them down, one at a time._

 _One person, seeing that they wouldn't be able to beat Matt, charges for Hiro. Matt throws himself over Hiro, taking the hit which didn't really affect him. He's about to retaliate before the same pain from earlier strikes again, this time more intense. Another person uses this opportunity to punch Matt in the side with knucklebusters, reopening some of the stitches._

 _Hiro tackles the one with knucklebusters to the ground from beneath Matt, and Matt overcomes the pain and takes down the man hitting his back. He scares the remainder of the mob away but then collapsed and waits out the pain._

 _Hiro takes him back to his place, where Tadashi gives Matt new stitches. Cass then drops him home._

* * *

 **Chapter Eleven: The Projects**

* * *

Matt was in his lab, pacing from one wall to the other, absolutely stumped. He had arrived very early in the morning, about 6, and it was now 1 in the afternoon. For all that time he was grinding the gears of his brain, wracking it and thinking so much he was certain he was getting a migraine. All it accomplished was adding to his already extremely tired state. With the presentations only days away, he needed to further his project ASAP.

He wasn't a genius like Momo. She just had a natural resonance with technology that he couldn't help be envious of. He loved tinkering and making things with his brother when they were children, and for a while they almost seemed prodigious. Unfortunately Matt didn't carry that into adolescence.

No matter how much he tried, no matter how many equations he wrote up, wires he crossed or plans he drew up, nothing worked out. It all just blew up his face, literally in a couple of cases. He wouldn't be so stressed if the fact that his future in SFIT depended on him doing well.

He was on the verge of banging his head on the wall when he heard a knock on the door.

"Fantastic." He growled. He stomped over to the door and pulled it open. "Oh, hey Hiro."

"Hey." Hiro nervously responded. "I just wanted to say th-thanks- again- f-for last night." He walked past the threshold of the lab. "I brought these." He held up a pink box.

Matt could smell a sugary, warm scent from the box.

"Doughnuts?" He asked.

"Glazed and just out of the oven this morning." He said, opening the box. "I made them myself using my aunt's recipe."

Matt shut the door again. "Thanks, but it isn't necessary. I only did what I had to."

"Still. I mean, because of me your stitches got busted open. It must've been sore." He looked at his feet, guilt eating away at him.

Matt scoffed. "You saw my back, kid, it's nothing. Here, look." He lifted his shirt to his chest, showing off his burn and enough of the long scar. Hiro's eyes widened. "I'm used to scars." He said matter-of-factly.

"So have you made any progress?"

"Not even a little bit." Matt said, re-seating himself in his desk chair and slumping onto his desk. "Every day I'm beginning to see your reasoning in not coming here."

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad." Hiro said, placing himself on the couch.

"It is, and because it is I'm not gonna get my grant to continue next year!" He snapped.

"Your grant?" Hiro asked.

"Yeah. The programme I got in on gives a grant to a person every year provided that they use it to further their research. I've barely improved in the year I've been here, and now I'm gonna have to drop out!" He slammed his fist on his desk, making Hiro flinch.

"I'm sure you'll figure something out." Hiro said, trying to sound helpful.

"No I won't! I've been trying for weeks to think of _something_ , but I've got nothing! And the presentations are only a few days away!"

 **WHAM**

Matt's emotions spilled over the top, resulting in him slamming his fist into his metal desk again, this time indenting it deeply. With a bit of oomph, he pulled his hand from the dent and slunk back into his chair.

"Sorry." He said. "I've just...been really stressed recently. I didn't mean to take it out on you."

"It-it's fine." Hiro responded, loosening his previously tensed body. "I understand. Sometimes things just get too much." He shrugged.

"Yeah, thanks." Matt stood and took a seat next to Hiro. "You might as well go, we won't be- gack!"

Before he could finish the sentence, the burning pain ignited suddenly in Matt's abdomen. He clutched it tight with both hands, and brought his knees to his chest, instinctively trying to lessen the pain, though it was in vain.

"Matt? Are you okay!?" Hiro asked, kneeling on the couch and turning to Matt. He had no idea what to do. Matt was clearly in severe pain for no apparent reason.

"Just like last night." Hiro whispered. Not knowing how to help, he just put one shaking hand on Matt's shoulder and another on his knee.

Matt's hand shot up from his gut and slapped Hiro right in the middle of the chest. His fingers begin to clasp around the fabric of his hoodie, pulling him closer and nearly choking him. Hiro pulled at Matt's wrist, trying to wretch himself away. Matt's iron grip was too strong to easily break, as Hiro quickly found out. He resigned himself to watch as Matt's pain intensified.

Hiro gulped. Timidly and slowly, he wrapped his arms around Matt's shoulders, and as he was being pulled closer anyway, he rested his forehead on Matt's temple. Matt cracked his left eye open and looked at Hiro.

The pain, after many slow minutes, began to finally die down. Matt slowly released his grasp on Hiro's hoodie, letting both of his arms rest by his side as he regained his breath.

"You can let go now." He said to Hiro.

Hiro blushed as he quickly removed his arms from around Matt and sat back on his seat. "Sorry."

"It's fine." Matt said, looking away, a light blush crossing his own cheeks. "Sorry I grabbed you, I wasn't thinking much and..."

"I get it." They sat in silence for an awkward minute. "That happened last night as well. Is something wrong?"

"I'm fine, just a...bug. Like I was saying, you should go cause we're not gonna be doing anything today."

"Are you sure? You gonna be okay?"

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

"Okay, if you say so." Hiro stood and awkwardly shuffled to and fro on his heels. "Bye."

Matt waved him away as he ran his fingers through his sweaty hair.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

"Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh." Anderson giggled. "Your boys work fast Asegawa."

"Hm." Asegawa grunted. "They should only be a few days more before completion."

The pair were currently in a large industrial factory owned by the city. It had been two days since Asegawa went to Anderson. In those two days Asegawa had gotten what he wanted, as did Anderson herself, and she was currently inspecting the unfinished products.

"Now you just need pilots." Anderson smirked.

"They will be trained in due course." He replied, as proper and poised as ever.

"Why not just get in one yourself?" Anderson asked, leaning against a support beam.

"I work better in the field, unencumbered." He answered simply.

"I see." Anderson nodded sarcastically. "Now about my payment..."

Asegawa pulled out an envelope from his trench-coat. "Here, your payment in cash." Anderson rushed over and snatched the thick envelope from the police commissioner.

"Wonderful doin'c business with ya."

"Hopefully it'll be the last time." Asegawa grumbled.

"Ditto. Oh and FYI, I'm betting that you're gonna lose."

Asegawa frowned. "Don't you think your machines are good enough?"

"Oh no their good, brilliant even, and if you were goin' up against normal foes you'd win hands down, but these people are tricky, always with another ace up sleeve or something."

"Justice will prevail. Always."

"Hm. If you say so." Anderson began to walk away. "Just don't say I didn't warn ya!"

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

That night Hiro was in his room with Tadashi, the latter currently doing as all his peers were and working on his project.

Hiro was lying on his bed, looking at the ceiling with his hands behind his head. He was thinking about the events that occurred earlier that day with Matt. He was very confused by the whole thing. First: Matt was acting as if his life depended on going to SFIT, second: Matt was having those attacks of pain God knows how often, and third: he was very confused with himself, regarding why he embraced Matt like he did.

 _'Why did I think that'd be a good idea? I just weirded him out.'_ He mentally berated.

"Hiro!" Tadashi said suddenly. "Stand in the middle of the room."

"Why?" Hiro asked with a distinct lack of enthusiasm.

"Just do it."

Hiro sighed. "Fine." He got of his bed and walked to where Tadashi said.

"Feet apart and arms out."

Hiro rolled his eyes but complied. Tadashi took out a device vaguely resembling a gun and aimed it at Hiro. With a press of a button a blue light appeared and moved up and down, scanning Hiro.

"Alright, that's good. Now get your heart beating."

"How?"

"I dunno. Jog on the spot, think of something exciting- just get your heart pumping!"

Hiro gave an annoyed exhale and closed his eyes. He began to think back to when he had his back against a wall and he was about to be beaten by dozens of guys over twice his size.

 _'Nope, no good.'_ He thought. He had only ever been actually beaten up once, every other time Tadashi or Matt was there. There was the time he was face to face with a mob, with a locked door between him and his bodyguard. He actually thought he was a goner for a while. Then Matt burst down the door and immediately started mowing though the mob of like 20 people.

 _'That was awesome.'_ Hiro thought with a smile. Then he remembered when Matt threw himself on top of him to block an attack. Matt just stayed there, taking hit after hit, being forced down closer to Hiro until his own face was practically buried in Matt's chest.

He shook his head clear of those thoughts.

 _'Come on, I can think of_ something _!'_

Then he thought of earlier that day, when Matt suddenly began to writhe in pain and pulled him close.

"Okay that'll do." Tadashi said. Hiro opened his eyes, not even realising that his heart rate had increased. He felt his face heat up when he realised what did it. "Something wrong?"

"No, I'm fine." Hiro said, looking away. "I'm...gonna call it a night, 'kay."

"Ooh-kay." Tadashi said, turning back to his work.

As Hiro lay there he began to think more about what had exactly excited him. _'It was as if he was dying, if course it scared me.'_ He tried to justify.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

A few days went by, and all was quiet in Matt's world. There was an almost disturbing lack of abductions, Hiro hasn't visited him or requested bodyguard duty and Momo hadn't bothered him to socialise. Yes, if it weren't for the constant pains that struck through his stomach, chest and head, and the heavy pressure that the presentations added to his burdened shoulders, he might actually say he was somewhat content. But those cons did in fact exist, and with his meditation doing less and less, and the presentations scheduled the following day, and with the added realisation that Apollo was suspiciously quiet increased his stress by like three orders of magnitude.

He was currently lying on the couch in his lab, his hands linked and resting on his stomach. He had deep, dark bags under his eyes again and thick stubble from lack of shaving. He ran his fingers through his hair and exhaled deeply. He rolled off the couch and landed face down on the ground.

"Uuuuuhhhhhghraaaaaaa." He moaned. Then there was a knock at the door. Matt looked up, reluctantly stood and answered it. From the knock he guessed that it was Hiro.

Yup, it was Hiro.

"Hey." He said. "Mind if I come in?"

Matt didn't talk, he just gestured Hiro to enter before collapsing on the couch.

"Rough time?" Hiro asked. The look Matt gave spoke a library of volumes as to his current mood.

"Anyway," Hiro said, taking a seat adjacent to Matt. "I've noticed that you and everyone else are all stressing mad about the presentations."

"You have no idea." Matt said as he ran his hands through his hair.

"I also know that you've made little progress so I came up with this." Hiro pulled a flash drive from his pocket and put it between him and Matt. "It should make that whole headset thing wireless now." Hiro looked up at Matt, who was now bearing a much softer gaze than before. He quickly looked down at his lap again, and snapped an elastic band he had around his wrist. He heard Matt's footsteps rushing over to his computer.

After a few minutes of silence bar Matt's typing at a keyboard, he spoke.

"This, is, amazing."

"What?" Hiro asked, barely hearing Matt's mumble.

"This, is amazing." He turned and looked at Hiro. "This-this is better than anything I've even though of yet!"

"It's nothing, really." Hiro said with a small, bashful smile.

"Nothing? I've been at this for months yet you cracked it in what, a few weeks?"

"Days, actually. I've been working on this since the last time we met." That bashful smile quickly became one of pride.

"Days?" Matt asked with an expression of disbelief. "You know, your brother said you were a genius, but this is something else." He sat back down in his chair and turned to his computer, vaguely hearing a snap sound behind him. "You wanna help me build this?" He asked, peering over his shoulder.

"Of course." Hiro answered. "I only designed it."

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

Two days later the presentations had gone by. Primarily thanks to Hiro, Matt passed and was legible to attend SFIT next year. Nevertheless, he was grateful to have that pressure lifted from his shoulders.

He was in his living room, sitting cross legged on the couch meditating whilst Momo was highly invested in her laptop with Glasgow laying at her feet.

"Hey Matt?"

He didn't reply, too deep into his meditation. She sighed, picked up a nearby pillow and threw it at Matt. He caught easily caught it without even opening his eyes.

"Yeah?"

"Just got an e-vite from Fred."

"Who's Fred?" Matt asked, sitting normally on the couch.

"Fred Lee? Part of Ethel's friend group? Lanky, white, is the school's mascot. Ringing any bells?"

"Vaguely. What's it for?"

"He's having a party to celebrate the end of the school year, and he invited us."

"Not interested." Matt deadpanned.

"Oh cuh-maaan!" Momo whined. "We deserve to let loose a little."

"We have very different definitions of "letting loose"."

"C'mon Matt, come with meeee! We never go anywhere since Murphy's got big. They've really quieted down, you can afford to go."

"It's not about whether or not I can afford to go, it's that I don't _want_ to go."

"Come on, we show up, we eat his food, we have some drink, maybe dance," she shrugged. "it'll be fun."

"I don't drink." Matt said as he crossed his arms.

"I'm sure he'll have water."

"I'm still not interested."

"Hiro'll probably be there, I know he's among us rare breed of people you can hold a conversation with. And you owe him," she pointed at Matt. "don't forget that."

"I don't see how going to a party that isn't his counts as me repaying him."

"Use your imagination." Matt scoffed at that. "Please, just do this." She wheeled over next him, startling Glasgow. "For me. I really want to be friends with these people, and going to this party will help! And I'd like you to go with me."

Annoyed, Matt exhaled through his nose. "Fine. If it means that much to you, then find, I'll go."

"Yes!" Momo exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. "I'm gonna get SMASHED!"

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

Gogo was still at SFIT, packing away most of her work to continue on during summer. She easily passed the presentations. Most in Robert Callaghan's programme did. As she was putting away tools her phone went off in her pocket.

 _'Just Fred's party.'_ She thought, having known about it beforehand.

After backing up all of her digital work onto a flash drive, she put on her backpack of tools and parts and took down her bike from its mount. She wheeled it out of the laboratory and went out onto the campus before climbing on top, then she put on her helmet.

"Wait!" She heard just after she pedaled off, causing her to abruptly stop. She looked around to see who called her, harsh words on the tip of her tongue. She saw the middle-aged figure of Robert Callaghan waving her down from the building she just left. "Ms. Tomago!" He said, speed-walking towards her.

"Professor. Callaghan." She said, taking off her helmet. "What can I do for you?"

"Ms. Tomago, I wanted to speak with you. Here." He held out envelope.

"What's this?" She asked, taking the envelope.

"The police department is looking for people to be part of a new project. I was asked to see of anyone in my programme would be a suitable candidate. I thought you'd be interested."

"Thanks, Professor. I'll be sure to give it a look."

"That's all I ask. And also, very good work with your presentation this year, I was very impressed."

"Thank you, Professor." Gogo replied.

"I'll see you in September Ms. Tomago. Goodbye."

"Goodbye Professor." She took off.

Later, Gogo was in a garage in the more run down part of San Fransokyo. As she walked through the door she switched on the light and let her bike lean against the wall. Her bag slung from her shoulders as she threw herself on a couch. She took the envelope from inside her jacket and tore it open. Her eyes moved side to side, quickly reading the entirety of the letter.

"Shit."

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

Hiro, Tadashi and Cass were all in their kitchen, having a celebratory dinner in Tadashi's honour.

"Congratulations Tadashi!" Cass squealed, bringing the roast beef dinner to the table. "Another successful year!"

"Thanks Aunt Cass." He replied with a smile.

"Alright, you two eat up. Sorry, but I can't leave the café alone for too long."

"We know Aunt Cass." Hiro said. Cass went behind the two brothers and wrapped an arm around each of their shoulders, pulling them into a hug.

"Thanks for the dinner." Tadashi said as she left.

After filling their plates with beef, potatoes and veg, and then drowning it all in gravy they began to eat with gusto.

"So," Tadashi said after swallowing a big mouthful. "have you thought anymore about going to SFIT?"

Hiro chewed his food and looked down at his plate for a few seconds before answering. "A little bit."

"And?"

"Maybe."

It may not have seemed like a whole lot, but that one word ignited an eruption in Tadashi. For so long he'd been wishing his little brother would do more with his genius, and now that his answer went from: "Not a hope in hell!" to: "Maybe." made Tadashi _very_ happy.

"What changed your mind?"

Hiro shrugged. "I dunno. I've been working with Matt a lot, I saw that it can be fun working on your own stuff like that. But I'm not convinced, the other day Matt nearly broke a table with how stressed he was with the presentations."

"Really? Did he pass?"

"Yeah, pretty sure he did." He hid a little smirk, thinking it best to keep his involvement in Matt's presentation on a need to know basis. "Speaking of Matt, the last couple times I've seen him he's gotten...stomach aches, I think. Anyway they seem really bad, like he can't even move or talk or anything. Any idea what it could be?"

"Hmm." Tadashi thought for a moment as he chewed on a gamey piece of beef. "You said he was stressed? And I'm not certain but I think he's an insomniac."

"Really?"

"Yeah but I'm just guessing. If he does then he might have an ulcer."

"Aren't ulcers for old people?"

Tadashi shrugged. "Enough stress and anyone can get one."

"Hm."

"In other news, Fred's having a party in a few days. Wanna come?" Tadashi asked.

"Sure. What kind of party is it?"

"Just a party to celebrate the end of the year. Your man-crush is probably gonna be there." He said with a big smirk.

Hiro jabbed his brother in the shoulder for that. "I do _not_ have a man-crush!"

Tadashi only chuckled.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

At about the same time Gogo paid a visit to Matt and Momo. The three were seated around the kitchen table. Gogo took out the envelope from earlier and tossed it near the duo.

" _This_ is why I came here. Professor Callaghan gave it to me, saying that it's from the police department." She said.

Momo took the envelope first, reading over its contents out loud.

 **"Dear reader,**

 **We at the San Fransokyo Police Department (S.F.P.D) wish to extend an invitation to you to take part in a special project that will assist in bringing to justice the rogue criminals who take the law into their own hands in our fine city.**

 **Should you accept the offer you need only present this letter to any officer in S.F.P.D headquarters (making sure that the insignia on the reverse side remains legible).**

 **After presenting this letter further details will be revealed to you, afterwards you have 72 hours to decide whether you accept or not.**

 **Necessary skills include: familiarity with vehicular technology, ability to act under pressure, strong mental foundation, quick reflexes, able to follow orders AND take initiative when necessary.**

 **Further details of the project will be revealed at a later date (provided to accept to take the position).**

 **We hope you accept our offer,**

 **Respectfully,**

 **Commissioner Hayate Asegawa."**

"Well shit." Momo cursed.

"Mm-hm." Gogo agreed.

"Any idea what they're talking about?" Matt asked.

"A way to kill you." Momo deadpanned.

"I doubt they'd actually kill him, just incapacitate." Gogo said.

"Well whatever they plan on doing it's not going to bode well for us." Momo said, glancing at Matt.

"Along with Apollo and Murphy's, that's three things I've got to take care of now."

"We- that we have to take care of."

"In any case, I'm gonna accept, see what they're planning and if it can help you." Gogo said.

"You don't have to do that." Matt said.

"Believe me, I don't want to, but if you're taken out then who knows how many people will be taken by Murphy's."

"She's right, we're against a gang, the police, and a whatever Apollo is. We can use all the help we can get."

"Fine. Do what you will." He stood. "Just don't expect me to thank you for it!" He then left and retreated up to his room.

"What's with him?" Gogo asked with a scowl.

Momo sighed, obviously irritated by Matt. "He's been very moody lately. Somethings going on with him and he won't tell me what. He's becoming a real pain! No matter how much I try to convince him to open up he says he will, then retreats back into his Matt-shell." She bonked her head on the table kitchen table, leaving it there. "Ow."

"Sounds rough." Gogo said with a smirk. "I'll leave you two to your domestic and get back to you tomorrow night with what I find out."

A muffled thanks came from Momo and Gogo left.

* * *

 **That's it for this chapter. This one was very segmented, and I don't think it was very well paced. Maybe it's just cause I know what's gonna happen.**

 **In any case, please review, and I'll aim to have the next chapter out on September 14th, the one year anniversary of this story.**

 **Until next time,**

 **I bid you adieu.**


	12. The Party

**Published: 21st September 2016**

 **Hello faithful readers, it's been over one year since I've started this story, and I thank everyone That's reviewed, followed and favorited.**

 **I haven't much else to say so on with the chapter!**

 _ **Summary of last Chapter:**_ _The chapter starts with Matt in his lab the day after he and Hiro were attacked by a mob. He is again trying to improve on his project with absolutely no results. Hiro knocks on his door with a box of fresh donuts as an offer of thanks for the previous night. Hiro asks how Matt's doing with his project only to get declarations of stress from Matt, resulting in him nearly breaking a table with his fist. He tells Hiro that he might as well leave since nothing will get done. As he says that the pains in his stomach flare up. Hiro is clueless as to what to do but then Matt grabs Hiro's shirt tightly, unconsciously pulling him in. Hiro in turn awkwardly embraces Matt until his pain subsides. They sit in an awkward silence for a moment before Matt passes off his pains as a bug and Hiro leaves._

 _We cut to Anderson and Commissioner Asegawa in a factory where Anderson's designs are being built. She gets her money and states that she thinks that Asegawa will lose against the Vigilante and Apollo. Asegawa also states that he is going to find pilots in due time for Anderson's machines._

 _That night Hiro and Tadashi are in their room, the latter working on his project. He asks Hiro to be a subject and scans him. After that he asks Hiro to get his heart beating, to which he thinks back to various moments where he was in danger, only to have the moment that got his heart being be when Matt was in distress earlier that day. He tells himself it was only because of his fear of not knowing what to do at all in the situation._

 _The day before the presentations Matt's no further than he was days ago. He's lamenting his failure when Hiro, who he hadn't seen in days, comes by. He had with him a flash drive that would make Matt's project wireless. He is extremely grateful and both he and Hiro build it._

 _Two days pass by and Matt passed the presentations. He is with Momo in their living room when she gets an e-vite from Fred inviting them to an end-of-year party. It took some work but Momo convinced Matt to go with her._

 _Gogo is still at SFIT, packing up her things so she can work over summer. As she is leaving she is called by Professor Robert Callaghan. He gives her an envelope, saying it is the police department who are looking for people to take part in a special project. When she gets home she reads and, only to declare; "Shit."._

 _We then cut to Hiro, Tadashi and Cass, who are having a celebratory dinner in Tadashi's honour. Cass apologizes that she needs to tend to the café, leaving the two brothers alone. Tadashi asks Hiro how he felt about going to SFIT. Hiro said "Maybe", which excited Tadashi. Hiro then asks what Matt's pains could be, to which Tadashi says that it might be an ulcer, due to the stress Hiro observed and Tadashi's thought that Matt's probably an then invites Hiro to Fred's party._

 _Gogo visits Matt and Momo to tell them about the letter she received. The police are looking for participants to take part in a project designed to; " assist in bringing to justice the rogue criminals who take the law into their own hands in our fine city." They all easily see that Matt's the target, to which Gogo says that she'll take part in the project as much as she can to get information that'll help out Matt and Momo. Her reason being that Matt's the only thing standing between Murphy's Law and their would-be victims. Matt isn't happy about Gogo's involvement and storms off, saying that she can do whatever she wants and not to expect thanks from him._

* * *

 **Chapter Twelve: The Party**

* * *

"I want the popcorn machine over there, and another one over there, then put the tequila fountain over there. Ooh, set the D.J up over there but put a stage there first!" Fred Lee was was walking through his family's mansion, a team of party planners following him and taking note of his every request.

"Matter Frederick, do you not think we are approaching the realms of overkill?" Heathcliff, his butler, asked.

"This is gonna be the party to top all parties, Heathcliff my man! Overkill doesn't exist."

"If you say so, Master Frederick."

He went on for a while more, his party to include: pool volleyball, edible cake statues of Superman, Batman, Wonder-Woman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Cyborg and Martian Manhunter along the hall, a disco floor in the foyer, a Godzilla slide that went from the roof into the pool, a barbeque in the veranda out back, a cosplay studio in an upstairs room and a band set up in the dining room that'd be used to host a superhero ball. He wasn't even done yet.

"And then then, at midnight, the statue will be rise up- *beep* *beep*." He phone went off in his pocket. "Ah, hold that thought! I'll be back later. Heathcliff, to the Fredmobile!"

* * *

 *********BREAK********

* * *

"Okay, I'm heading out!" Momo said as she opened the front door. "You sure you don't want to come?"

Matt approached her, Glasgow on a leash by his side. "Yeah, I'm good."

"Okay." She shrugged. "Enjoy your date you two." She said with a wink.

"RRRUFFF!" Glasgow barked.

"Hmph."

"Yo!" Gogo yelled, pulling up in front of the house.

"Here she is. She's going to investigate the police's "special project" tonight. Just so you know."

"Well good luck to her." He said as he locked the door behind him. He walked with Momo across their driveway to Gogo.

"Hey." She greeted, Matt nodding in response. "You getting in or what?"

"Yeah." Momo said. "See ya Matt."

"Bye." Momo got in car, putting her chair in the back seat, and they drove off. Matt began to walk in the opposite direction, Glasgow sauntering alongside him. Every so often he'd feel a pull on the leash an Glasgow tried to say hi to a passer by. After a while they reached a large, open park with a pathway around the perimeter for joggers, walkers and general park-goers.

With a click he loosened Glasgow's leash, letting the dog explore as they walked. Matt followed the dog's pull into the grass, watching him sniff around the base of a tree before taking a leak on it. Matt whistled, summoning Glasgow before him within seconds. He keeled down and removed the leash from Glasgow's collar.

He took out a tennis ball from his backpack and tossed it a couple of time, Glasgow getting visibly excited. Matt tossed it far, Glasgow bolting after it like a bullet from a gun. Matt watched him as he picked up the ball and started running back, putting up a fight when Matt tried to pry it from his maw. This went on for a while longer until Glasgow decides to just lie down and chew on the ball and paw it around.

Meanwhile Matt meandered over to a bench. It was only a moment later when he felt the inkling of an attack in his gut. He was getting better at predicting them, giving him more time to brace himself. He firmly gripped the armrest of the bench, the pain beginning to sear. After a couple dozen attacks the pain had only gotten worse, but he was better at powering through them.

When it finally passed, Glasgow had his head in Matt's lap and a couple of passers-by were giving him odd looks. He pat Glasgow's head, rubbing his ears.

"It's okay boy. I'm okay." He mumbled.

 _'One day Jackson, I'm gonna kill you and get rid of this_ _ **fucking**_ _leech!'_

* * *

 ********DUBLIN*IRELAND********

* * *

Barbara Bristol, (the woman Matt fought on a freighter a few chapters ago, the one who injured him) the first lieutenant of Eimear Murphy, was in the back of a limousine, war swords at her hips and a bored look steeled into her features. The limo came to a brisk stop, the chauffeur making quick work of opening her door with an umbrella in hand.

"This way, M'lady." He said. She got out, not minding that her bare feet were on wet concrete.

It was only a couple of metres to the front door of a large, lavish oak door. The chauffeur knocked for her before she could raise her fist. The door was opened almost immediately.

"Wait in the back of the car for me." Bristol said as she crossed the threshold. She was walked across the foyer of the mansion by a well dressed, aged man into a dining room. There were already four people present in the room. At the head of the table sat a grey-haired woman with prominent cheekbones, black eyes and a red suit.

"Barbara," She said with a regal, Irish accent. "how nice of you to join us. I hope your journey was enjoyable."

"It was very much so, Lady Murphy." Barbara said, taking the free seat on the woman's right hand side.

"Good good." Murphy looked around at all the other occupants of the room. "Now that my lieutenants are present I must introduce our guest, a representative of our benefactor, Mister Tyren-Acatia. Everybody, this is Chameleon. Chameleon, this is my first lieutenant: Barbara Bristol, my fourth: Montague Jackson, and my third: Hector Cavendish." She gestured to each of the three in turn as she mentioned them. Chameleon itself was a hooded figure with a stiff, unbreathing posture and obscured face. It simply nodded in acknowledgement.

"Very well. Now, let us discuss. Montague," Murphy faced the, young, smirking, black haired man. "how is the U.S. Western Seaboard I assigned to you fairing? Profitable as ever I assume."

"For the most part M'lady." He lost his smirk. "However, the kid we're observing in San Fransokyo, he's bad for business. Practically every mercenary we send gets terminated by him. I could easily go and dispatch him my-"

He was silenced when Murphy put her hand up. "The Raijūmura boy stays as is."

Chameleon then decided to speak up. "My Lord Tyren-Acatia wants him alive. If he is killed then he will have your head as a consolation." It spoke with a light, airy voice that was utterly devoid of any emotion.

"Speaking of Juusuke Raijūmura," Barbara interjected. "I engaged him recently, to test if whether or not he was worth the resources we are burning. I noticed something that Jackson seems to have left out of his mission report, when he encountered him 4 years ago." To that Jackson frowned at Barbara, Murphy raised her eyebrows and Chameleon turned its head.

"If you know what's best for you Bristol-"

"He used his ability to implant a leech into the boy's naval. For 4 years it's been festering within him, leaving him unable to use Dantian and defenceless in the face of greater threats."

"Is this true, Montague?" Murphy asked.

Jackson hesitated for a moment before speaking. "It is, M'lady."

Murphy pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head. "Foolish, foolish, foolish. Please give me a good explanation."

Jackson grit his teeth. "You had given me orders to keep him alive, but he was proving to be troubling-"

"A twelve year old, a child, was giving you trouble?"

"M'lady you don't understand! I was-" Before he could have even blinked, Murphy had her rapier drawn and slashed through the air. It sent Jackson to the ground, screaming and thrashing in pain with his hands over his right eye.

"Don't tell me that I don't understand. I understand perfectly. You disobeyed a simple order because you thought I wouldn't find out." She spoke coldly down at Jackson at he clutched his bloodless wound.

Jackson, shakily and slowly, got on his hands and knees and touched his forehead to the floor. "I never meant any disrespect M'lady!" He all but yelled. "You are right! I acted impulsively and against your wishes! Please forgive me!"

Murphy looked over her nose at him, sighing. "Get out of my sight." She spat. He looked up at her with his remaining left eye, the other cut cut diagonally from cheek to forehead, the wound being a deep pink with charred edges. He did as ordered, leaving the way Barbara came, shooting her a scathing look as he did. Murphy plopped back down in her seat and rubbed her forehead. "Such a petulant child." She mumbled. "In any case, Barbara, be a dear and take care of the of the leech."

"Of course, M'lady."

* * *

 ********SAN FRANSOKYO-MATT'S POV********

* * *

That night, Fred's massive party commenced, with well over 100 attendees, most of whom were students of SFIT. As I walked up the drive I could feel the loud music and the sound of 100 people trying to talk over each other batter itself into my eardrums. Momo had arrived previously with Gogo, so I had to go by himself. To be honest I easily located the party as soon as I was within 100 metres. Now that I was there I set out to find Momo.

As I walked around over a dozen people bumped into me, so by the time I saw Momo I was already exerting considerable self control to not snap someone's neck. Momo, by the way, was in the middle of a ring of people, all of whom were cheering loudly. She was sitting at a small table across from some guy, both with two separate piles of shot glasses next to them, one full of drink and the other empty.

The guy slowly brought a drink to his mouth, his hand shaking. The drink then slipped from his hand, falling into lap and his head lolled back. He had drank himself to unconsciousness.

Momo then hollered in victory at the top of her lungs, though she barely affected the volume of the room. "Matt!" She said upon seeing me, wheeling over. "Glad you made it!"

"It's too loud!" I yelled over the noise. Momo then then pointed to back of house, guiding me over. It led out to the back garden, where there was a pool and even more people. At least it wasn't as loud. Momo took me over to a table where Gogo was situated with a red cup in hand. She also looked fairly crotchety.

"Hey! Look who made it!" Momo said, shaking my arm.

"Hey." I nodded.

She nodded back. "I found out what the SFPD are plannin-"

"Ssssssssshhhhhhhhhh-shuh." Momo said, putting a finger against Gogo's lips. "No-one's supposed to know about that." She whispered.

"I'll tell you when she's sober."

"That'd be a good a idea."

"Hey guys!" A cheery voice interjected, then I felt an arm around my shoulders. It was the Latino girl. Honey Lemon, I think her nickname was, and she had her other arm around Gogo. "Group hug!" She pulled me and Gogo in, squeezing Momo between the three of us.

"Breath! Breath! I can't breath!" Momo squealed. Then there was a flash of a camera. Honey Lemon had taken a picture of us.

Momo gasped for breath when we separated. "Don't suffocate the cripple!" She yelled.

"Mi amigos!" The host, Fred, said as he sauntered over to the group. He was dripping wet and wearing a green wetsuit. "Glad you could all make it!"

"Oh Freddie!" Honey Lemon said, rushing over to Fred and taking a picture of the both of them. "This is a great party!"

"Thanks! Just wait until we get the main event! It'll blow all your minds!"

"Hiro! Hiro!" I heard an approaching Tadashi yell. "Have any of you seen Hiro?" He asked the group of us. We all shook our heads. I didn't even know that a fourteen year old would even be at this party. Hell, everyone else here was probably only 18 or 19, so not being underage here isn't really a big deal. "You!" Tadashi said, pointing at Fred. "Why didn't you tell me that this was this type of party?! With alcohol and over ONE-HUNDRED people!"

Before Fred could answer Gogo tapped Tadashi's shoulder. "I think I found your brother."

"What!? Where!?" He asked, looking around frantically. Gogo pointed to the top of a diving board about 10 metres high, with Hiro standing on the edge clad in only a black boxer shorts. "No no no no no no no no. Hiro! Get down from there! Now!" Hiro didn't hear a word though, and he then jumped from the board, hitting the water seconds later in a cannonball position. People cheered for him as he emerged from the water. Tadashi was...let's just say Tadashi was not well and leave it at that.

"Hey." Hiro said as he approached us, shivering with a towel around his shoulders. "Did you see my dive?"

"Yeah! It was sick!" Fred said, giving him a high five. Then he noticed that I was there, and for some reason that made him flush.

"What'd you think Matt?" He asked me.

"It was good." I said, not really knowing what else to say. I haven't seen him since we worked on my project. I should probably thank him again. "Thanks again for what you did the other day."

"It's no big deal." He shrugged. "You gonna go for a swim? The water's great."

Like hell I will. "No, I didn't bring a swimsuit or anything."

"Actually there's a bunch of clean ones-" Fred started before being cut off.

"What, the hell, was that?" Tadashi asked, slapping his hand on Hiro's shoulder.

"A dive." Hiro said, shrugging off Tadashi's hand. "You should try it."

"As if." Tadashi said, scowling at his younger brother.

"Weeeell, I'm gonna go again." Hiro said, sauntering around his brother, towards the pool.

"No you won't!" Tadashi snapped, grabbing Hiro's upper arm.

"Hey let go!"

"The only place you're going is home."

"As if." Hiro said, ripping his arm from Tadashi's grip. "You said I could come, so I'm staying until I feel like it."

"No you won't. I didn't know the party would be like this. If I did then I definitely wouldn't have let you come. Come on, I'm taking you home."

"No you're not." Hiro barked, backing away from Tadashi's hand. "Why are you so controlling? Why can't you just let me cut loose every now and then?"

"What are you talking about? I let you go bot fighting!"

"Yeah, only after I got a bodyguard!" He offhandedly gestured to me when he said that. "Why do you have to be so controlling, huh? It's like every step I take, you're there to tell me what I did wrong. Just stop. Okay? Just stop."

"Yeah, I'm there because if I wasn't you'd end up killing yourself because of just how bullheaded you are!"

The two of them were practically yelling in each other's faces by now. Meanwhile Fred had wandered of to mingle with his guests, and Honey Lemon and Momo left to go do whatever. I looked at Gogo, who hadn't moved, out of the corner of my eye. She looked back. She gestured with her head for me to follow her to a less occupied part of the garden. I followed her, seeing as she'd only talk to me directly if it was something important.

"Yeah?" I said.

"Like I was saying earlier, I found out west the SFPD are planning."

"And?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Mech-Suits."

"Mech-Suits?"

"Mech-Suits. Big robotic suits with a pilot in them. Five of'em, each able to take a massive amount of damage. And can hit just as hard."

"Well fuck." I muttered. "Thanks, I guess. You gonna go back?"

She shook her head. "Couldn't even if I wanted to. They were choosing their five today, so I backed out."

"Okay." I took a deep breath. "Sorry for when I snapped at you. I was...in an unfavorable mood."

"No shit. Momo described you as being "on your meriod"."

I rolled my eyes at that. "Whatever. I'm going to go find somewhere to sit down. All this noise is making me nauseous."

I walked away and spotted a vacant set of table and chairs across the garden. God I was tired. I wanted to sit this night away. It felt like sandbags were pulling my eyelids down, and that I had to wade through mud with every step I took. I let out an elongated yawn as I walked by the poolside, only vaguely knowing where I was by the smell of chlorine in the air.

"Heads up!" I heard someone urgently yell. I gazed lazily in the direction of the warning, not completely registering its meaning in the one second between hearing it and seeing a football flying forward my face. My tired reflexes couldn't get my hands out fast enough to stop it, so instead I felt it collide with the side of my face, hitting my right eye mostly. I stumbled back, losing my groggy footing on the wet stone I was on. It only took a second for one of my feet to trip over the other, gravity betraying me. I put my hands out to catch my fall, but I felt was wetness.

* * *

 **NORMAL POV**

With a splash Matt fell into the pool, some cheering at what they thought was an intentional dive. Only he didn't resurface. Instead, a patch of bubbles rose up and popped as his blurred figure waved underneath.

Ten, fifteen, twenty seconds went by and he didn't come up.

Then Momo, from next to Gogo now, noticed. She quickly became frantic, even in her drunken state.

"Get him out! Get him out!" She yelled, earning a few looks. "He can't swim! GET HIM OUT! HE'S GONNA DROWN!" It was hard to yell over the noise of the party but she managed it. She rushed her chair in the direction of the pool, but she leaned forward too much, and a trip over a little rock sent her forward onto the ground. She barely noticed though, beginning to drag herself to pool. "SOMEBODY PLEASE PULL HIM OOOOOOOOUT!"

Then there was another splash, someone jumping into the pool and dragging Matt up above the surface. He took a massive breath in as his rescuer brought him to the ledge. He pulled himself out before anyone could help. He stayed on all fours, coughing and wretching until a few mouthfuls of water spilled from his mouth.

A couple of thoughtful bystanders helped Momo back into her chair. She didn't waste time with pleasantries though, her thoughts immediately went to making sure her friend was okay.

"Matt?" She said tentatively, placing a hand on his shoulder. He sat back on his rear, breathing deeply with a look of pure terror on his face. Hiro walked over, placing his towel around Matt's shoulders instead.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Ah-ah-I'm fi-fi-fine." He stuttered, beginning to shiver. "I'm fine." He said again, this time more resolute. He stood shakily, running the towel through his snowy hair before shoving it back into Hiro's hands. He looked over at the one who pulled him from the water, who had only just gotten out himself. "Thank you, Tadashi."

"No problem." He said, wringing out his shirt.

"You can dry off inside. There's stuff you can put on upstairs." Fred said as he approached the group.

"Thanks." Tadashi said. Matt nodded as he followed Tadashi inside.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

On a street only a few blocks away from Fred's house, a van pulled up on a corner. Only it's driver was inside, but he was soon joined by another man, who was waiting under a lamp post.

"So how many are we taking tonight?" The newcomer asked the asked a he got into the vehicle .

"About 8 or so." The other answered. "We wait until after the party's over and only the stragglers are left."

"Warehouse or docks?"

"Warehouse. Or benefactor's been stifled so they'll be in storage for a few days."

"Aren't we concerned about the Vigilante?"

"We were told not to worry."

"So was everyone else. Look where they are now."

"Let him try." The driver smirked. "I'll pump him full of lead before he knows what's going on!"

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

When Fred had said that there were "stuff" that Matt and Tadashi could change into, they thought he meant clothes that they could wear for night, something that belonged to Fred or possibly his father. No. When Fred said "stuff" he meant a plethora of costumes and outfits meant for comic conventions and cosplay.

Thus, with a little goading from Hiro and Tadashi, Matt left the room wearing a costume for a character called "Archer" from a visual novel. They said that his white hair is what brought the costume together.

The costume consisted of a black, tight, sleeveless shirt with sliver accents which outlined his muscles and a metal plate on the collar. He wore black pants that had two black straps on his thighs, and another two strapped around his shins which were separate from each other, along with black metal plated shoes. He wore a red robe which was actually two separate sleeves connected by a metal plate at the back which covered his arms and was cut off showing his upper torso and midriff, and it had a separate red open skirt which ended above his shins with the top tied in a knot, covered by a silver metal plate.

Hiro went with (much to Matt's secret discomfort) a vigilante costume, with a wooden katana and hard-plastic mask. Though it only had one red line on the torso going from left-shoulder to right-hip, and only a few circles on each forearm.

Tadashi came out as Captain America, decked out in the red, white and blue with a fake shield on his back.

"This looks like the beginning of a bad joke." Hiro said. "An Archer, a Vigilante and a superhero walk into a party together."

"Hm." Matt said.

Tadashi let out a chuckle. "But remember Hiro, you're allowed to stay if you don't drink and-"

"Yeah yeah I know." Hiro said as he rolled his eyes. "So Matt do you wanna-" he stopped talking when he saw that Matt had left and was already downstairs.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

The party went on till the wee hours of the night. When Momo had seen Matt she became hysterical, nearly falling out of chair again. Multiply that by five and you get her reaction to Hiro's outfit.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen. Freaks and geeks. Nerds of all ages." Fred said over speakers that were all over his house and garden. "Now that we have reached midnight, prepare for the main event! Heathcliff my man, bring it out!"

Fred's butler, the aforementioned Heathcliff, was standing in front of a circular stone platform in the centre of the garden with a remote in hand. He shoed people away from the area. He cleared his throat and pressed the button, quickly walking away with poise.

The ground of the platform split right down the middle and began to separate until the platform was completely clear. People looked on in silence with palpable anticipation. The music had been turned off to give the event it's deserved attention. The ground began to tremor, and mechanisms could be whirring from the platform's hole.

Slowly, a statue began to rise from the rise, and as rose people looked at it with a rainbow of expressions. Some were slack jawed, others (Momo) were in hysterics, and some looked at it apprehensively.

Out of the ground had risen a two story tall, obsidian statue of the Vigilante.

With a spark it blew up into flames of black, white and red.

"Yeeeaahhh!" Fred yelled. "Now the real party starts!"

The crowd cheered, and beside it all, Matt let out a chuckle in his seat. _'If they cheered that loud for a statue, I wonder how'd they react if they knew the real thing was here.'_

The music got louder, people danced more, got drunker and wilder.

At about 1 in the morning, the party began to move more inside.

Tadashi, still as sober as a rabbi on Sabbath, was again frantically looking for Hiro, who he had seen breaking his promise and getting drunk himself.

Momo was with Wasabi on the dance-floor, the gentleman holding her bridal style as they danced. Fred and Honey had migrated close to them, the pair also dancing together. Gogo had gotten very tipsy herself, and was giggling like a schoolgirl as she waltzed with the ever stoic Heathcliff to the rock music that was playing.

"Have any of you seen Hiro?" Tadashi huffed as he trudged over to the group, clearly very exhausted.

Nobody seemed to have heard him. Except for Heathcliff. Heathcliff heard everything.

"Perchance, Mr. Hamada, would that be him?" He asked whilst being dunked by Gogo.

Tadashi looked to where he pointed, indiscernable gargles being the only sound to escape his throat when he did.

"What-sa gawt you all confuddled?" Momo hiccuped, looking where Heathcliff pointed also. Her jaw nearly broke through the floor when she saw what Tadashi saw. She needed to rub her eyes just to make sure that she wasn't just witnessing a hallucination concocted by her drunken stupor.

* * *

 **HIRO'S POV**

Tadashi and I just arrived at Fred's party and I was pumped! He wasn't though, when he saw that this was a _college_ party he immediately wanted to take me home. Fat chance. I got away from him and quickly lost him in the crowd of people.

I made my way out back and saw a pool. Fuck yes. Diving board. Fuck. Yes. I kicked off my shoes, and stripped my t-shirt and shorts. I ran over to the diving board and began to climb the ladder. This was like an Olympic diving board, 10 metres tall. I heard people cheering for me when I reached the top. I got to the edge and looked around. The word "peasants" came to mind.

I bounced on the end of the board and jumped into the water. The thrill on the way down was exhilarating. Shame it only lasted a few seconds. When I got out of the pool a guy handed me a dry towel which I put around my shoulders. I saw that Tadashi, Gogo, Fred, Honey Lemon, Momo and Matt were all gathered in one spot so I decided to go over to them.

"Hey." I said as I approached them. "Did you see my dive?"

"Yeah! It was sick!" Fred said, offering a high 5, to which I happily obliged. Then I noticed that Matt was looking at me. I couldn't help the blush that rose to my cheeks.

Why the hell did I do that!? It's not like I li-li-li. I can't even say the damned word!

"What'd you think Matt?" I asked.

Great, now I'm coming of as needy.

"It was good." Fuck yeah it was good. "Thanks again for what you did the other day." He said.

Oh yeah, that happened. "It's no big deal." I shrugged. "You gonna go for a swim? The water's great."

"No, I didn't bring a swimsuit or anything."

"Actually there's a bunch of clean ones-" Fred started to say.

"What, the hell, was that?" Tadashi asked, slapping his hand on my shoulder.

Oh great, here it comes.

"A dive." I said, shrugging off his hand. "You should try it."

"As if." Tadashi said, giving me his usual disapproving scowl.

"Weeeell, I'm gonna go again." I said, sauntering around him, intending to go to the pool again to get away from him.

"No you won't!" I heard him snap, grabbing my upper arm.

"Hey let go!"

Why does he think he can just put his hands on me like I'm some sort of child!

"The only place you're going is home."

"As if." I said, ripping my arm out of his grip. "You said I could come, so I'm staying until I feel like it."

"No you won't. I didn't know the party would be like this. If I did then I definitely wouldn't have let you come. Come on, I'm taking you home."

"No you're not." I barked, backing away from Tadashi's hand. "Why are you so controlling? Why can't you just let me cut loose every now and then?"

"What are you talking about? I let you go bot fighting!"

"Yeah, only after I got a bodyguard!" I gestured to Matt when I said that. "Why do you have to be so controlling, huh? It's like every step I take, you're there to tell me what I did wrong. Just stop. Okay? Just stop."

"Yeah, I'm there because if I wasn't you'd end up killing yourself because of just how bullheaded you are!"

"Oh yeah, _I'm_ the bullheaded one!"

We continued to yell at each other for a solid minute, not really disrupting the loud party. We exchanged insults and arguments we've iterated many times before, each one aggravating the other one even more.

"God, you're just the most frustrating, inconsiderate, idiotic, thick-skulled, reckless, infuriating little boy I've ever known!" Tadashi spat at me.

"If I am all that you say then why do you bother with me?" I spat back. I'm glad that I was already dripping wet, cause the chlorine that irritated my eyes and caused them to water might've been mistaken for tears. Yeah, Tadashi's words definitely weren't getting to me, like, at all.

"Get him out! Get him out!" I heard a girl's voice yelling from across the garden. "He can't swim! GET HIM OUT! HE'S GONNA DROWN!"

Me and Tadashi both looked. It was Momo, having fallen from her chair, frantically screaming in the direction of the pool. Tadashi noticed before I did, that a person was beneath the water, thrashing about with a patch of bubbles above them.

"SOMEBODY PLEASE PULL HIM OOOOOOOOUT!"

Tadashi rushed past me, not hesitating in diving into the pool. A couple seconds later he pulled up whoever it was under the water. It was...Matt? The guy who single handedly took out twenty people with his bare hands? Well I guess everyone has their kryptonite, I just never would've guessed that his was water.

I walked over to him, putting the towel I had around his shoulders instead.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Ah-ah-I'm fi-fi-fine." He stuttered, beginning to shiver. "I'm fine." He said again, this time more resolute. He stood shakily, running the towel I gave him through his snowy hair before shoving it back into my hands. He looked over at Tadashi, who had only just gotten out himself. "Thank you, Tadashi."

"No problem." He said, wringing out his shirt.

Hopefully he'll stop badgering me now.

"You can dry off inside. There's stuff you can put on upstairs." Fred said as he approached us.

"Thanks." Tadashi said. Matt nodded as he followed Tadashi inside. I decided to follow too, also wanting to change into something else, as well as making sure Matt would be okay. Like hell I'd leave him alone with Tadashi. The bastard.

Fred was talking about a costume studio when he said we could dry off and change inside, so instead of changing into my clothes again I decided to go with theme and dress up.

When we walked through the doors I immediately went for the costumes, but Tadashi grabbed my arm again.

"What do you think you're doing?" Tadashi asked in a scathing tone, obviously still under the impression he was taking me home.

"I'm changing into a costume to rejoin the party." I said, making sure to up the attitude.

"No, you're changing back into your clothes and I'm taking you home."

"No. You're. Not!" I said, finally getting frustrated enough to throw a punch at Tadashi's face.

I didn't regret it. It felt good. What I did regret was the look Tadashi have me after. He scowled down at me, clearly fuming at the seams. It gave me a lot of satisfaction to know that I riled him up that much. It also felt good. At least, that's what I thought until he tightened his grip around my arm, turned he away from him and whipped his hand across the back of my still wet boxers.

"Hey!" I yelled, flustering into a deep scarlet and wrangling my arm from Tadashi's grip. "What the hell!" I looked over my shoulder to see Matt engrossed in his own thoughts, seemingly having neither seen nor heard the smack Tadashi gave me. I was thanking any listening gods that no-one else was here. "That is _not_ cool!" I growled through my teeth.

"A lot of things you do are not _cool_ , Hiro. Now, get dry, get dressed, and get ready for me to take you home."

"God you're like a broken record. What are you so afraid of, huh? That I'm gonna get in a fight, that I'll get poisoned, raped, robbed or beaten? What is your problem? What is the danger you're so afraid of!?"

"I just don't want you to be exposed to any bad influences. That's all." Tadashi said, arrogantly crossing his arms.

"Bad influences?" I asked rhetorically. "The only "bad influence" I've been exposed to tonight, is you! You and your yelling and-"

 **WHAM**

The sound of Matt slamming his hand on the wall silenced me, and got both my and Tadashi's attention.

"Will you two just shut it." Matt growled lowly, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Both of you. You're brothers, act like it."

"But he-" I began, but stopped when Matt held up his hand.

"Since you both live with your aunt, I'm assuming you've lost your parents. Am I right?"

We nodded, taken aback at his statement.

"Then you know what's it's like to lose family, and how valuable what you have afterwards is. Don't let petty things do this to you. Tadashi, Hiro isn't as thick as you think he is, he knows what'll kill him and what won't. Hiro, I can guarantee you that your brother only does what he does because he feels an overwhelming, nearly compulsive need to protect you from anything and everything that might take you as well. Am I right?"

I saw Tadashi nod again, this time looking down at the floor in shame.

"Okay. Now be quiet, my head feels like nails are being screwed into it as it is." He then went back to his own thoughts.

"Sorry for yelling," Tadashi said. "and the slap."

Damn right he should be sorry.

"It's just hard. You were too young to remember but, when Mom and Dad died, I was a mess. You and aunt Cass were everything I had. Even just thinking that something could happen makes me so scared. Can you understand that?"

"I suppose I can." I said with a sigh. "I just need you to stop badgering me all the time. I don't like it when you judge everything I do."

"I guess I'll try to lighten up." He said begrudgingly.

"So...does that mean I can stay."

Tadashi glared down at me. "On two conditions. One: absolutely no drinking. Two: no starting anything with anyone and no taking anything anyone gives you. Got it?"

"Got it." I smirked, just glad to get him off my back.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

Tadashi and I managed to convince Matt to dress up. I managed to find the perfect costume for him, Archer from an anime I watched. He had the hair and the attitude. I found a vigilante costume that I had to wear, but the look Tadashi gave me could've cut diamond. He went with Captain America. Fitting, since he's such a goody-two-shoes.

"This looks like the beginning of a bad joke." I said. "An Archer, a Vigilante and a superhero walk into a party together."

"Hm." Matt said.

Tadashi let out a chuckle. "But remember Hiro, you're allowed to stay if you don't drink and-"

"Yeah yeah I know." I said, rolling my eyes. Honestly, the guy needed to keep his trap shut sometimes.

Looking downstairs I could see that people were still dancing, but now it was less of a rave and more of a prom. Wouldn't it be funny if I asked Matt as a goof? Hilarious! I'm gonna.

"So Matt do you wanna-" I started, but stopped when I saw that he was downstairs already. Oh well. I shrugged it off, sauntering on downstairs after him. Not "after" as in to get near him, I mean "after" as in doing it after he did it. That is all.

I saw Matt talking with Momo outside again. I say talking but she was just laughing her ass off at Matt. When I walked up to them her hysterics increased 5-fold. Maybe she found the Vigilante funny?

"Do you like my choice of outfit?" I asked.

"Definitely." Momo said, nodding enthusiastically. "Matt? What do you think of Hiro's costume?"

"It's fine I suppose." He said, not really paying attention to anything either of us were saying.

"Well _I_ think you're adorable." She then grabbed me by the cheeks and kissed the forehead of the mask.

"Uh, thanks." I said, blushing beneath the mask. "So Matt, would you like to-" Again, just as I was about to jokingly ask if he'd like to dance, he walked away.

"Ahh pay no attention to him." Momo said. "Slinging her arm around my shoulder. "We can have fun without him!"

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

So, as it turns out, I am a lightweight when it comes to alcohol consumption. I learned this when I was given a cup I thought contained only sprite, but had vodka mixed in with it. I thought it was just a different flavor, and I liked it, so I had another, and another, until I found balance a difficult concept to grasp.

This was a little after the reveal of the Vigilante statue (which was 17 degrees of godly) and most had gone inside. I tried a couple more alcoholic concoctions so by the time it was 1 o'clock in the morning I was very tipsy. I'm pretty sure Tadashi saw me mid-appletini so now he was on the prowl for me. Well big brother, good look finding me in this room of tall people!

I wandered for a bit, and on the dance floor I saw Momo dancing with Wasabi, Fred with Honey Lemon and Gogo with Fred's butler. That's not fair! I wanted to dance too! But who with? I'm the probably the youngest here so my options are slim. I looked around, taking off the mask to see better, and dropping it haphazardly to the ground. Besides, my head got really sweaty while wearing it.

I weaved between people, nearly falling over multiple times, looking for a viable partner. I saw Matt, sitting all on his lonesome in a secluded chair away from the party. I walked tentatively over to him, getting more and more nervous every second. I don't know why but butterflies kept fluttering around in my stomach, my palms got sweaty and my mouth went dry. As I was only a few metres away my eyes caught his and my legs decided walking wasn't doable anymore. Fuckers. They left me standing there like a flag, unable to ask a friend to a _totally platonic_ round of dancing. I gulped down the air in my mouth and willed my legs to work.

"H-hey." I said, giving a tiny waving gesture. "So I was wondering if maybe..."

"Maybe what?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

JUST ASK HIM YOU COWARD! You've seen Mrs. Matsuda in a short dress you can do this!

"Would you- would you- would you..." JUST SAY IT! "Wouldyouliketomaybedancewithme!?" I did it! But now I was as red as tomato with butterflies trying to escape my throat and every pour in my body was producing a gallon of sweat. Just don't say no!

"Uhh..."

Uhh is good! Uhh isn't no!

"...sure." He said.

HALLELUJAH TO JESUS!

He stood up, adjusted his robe-skirt-thing and walked to the dance floor.

"You comin'?"

"Yeah! Yeah, I'm coming." I almost left him go to dance for alone. I was still shellshocked that he actually said yes. So I walked with him until we reached the dance floor.

"Just so you know, I'm not much of dancer. Not like this anyway." He said, giving a little smile.

"Me neither." I said, blushing since now we're both standing here, neither with a clue as to what to do next.

Luckily, the fast-paced song that was just on ended and some slow jazz-ish music played instead.

"I guess, like this." I said, slowly raising my hands up to reach his shoulders. Only now did I really see the 7 inch height difference between us. I felt him put his right hand on my hip, and take my one in his left hand.

Oh God, was this really happening!? And why do I care so much!?

"I did learn a few easy steps when I was younger." He said, shuffling his feet into position. "Question is if I can remember them."

I could still feel my hand shaking with nervousness in his. God I hope I don't fuck up this dance.

He took a step with the music, and I tried my best to follow, but even if I was sober it would've been tricky. I was a couple seconds behind him, but he went slow for me, I think he did anyway, and in a minute or so I wasn't completely failing at this dance. I smirked at the thought of what this looked like: two cosplayers dancing to "Careless Whisper", one of whom was rather drunk.

Suddenly, Matt stopped. I looked up at him to see his eyes clenched closed, as well as that I could feel his grip on our intertwined fingers tightening.

"Matt?"

His eyes snapped wide, and he began to breath deeply through his teeth. Oh shit. It was happening again, the whole pain thing where he can't even move.

Quick, think of something!

My thinking was cut short though when Matt pulled me closer to him, his fist clenching the fabric of my top. What should I do!? Should I take him away? Get him a drink? Take him to Tadashi? Call an ambulance?

No, in my alcohol influenced mindset none of those rational options occurred to me. Instead I just pried my right hand free, and wrapped my arms around him torso. I turned my head so that a could lean it on his chest. I could hear his accelerated heartbeat _thump-thump_ ing a million times a minute.

We just stayed there for a couple minutes, embracing each other as the song went on.

I looked up at his face, his pained, blue eyes looking down into my my own. I didn't really think about it, I swear I didn't! But before I had any say in it, my hands went up to his shoulders, pulling me up onto my toes while simultaneously pulling him down. My stinging, dry lips went onto his own ones. To my drunken mind it seemed a perfectly logical decision. Yes, that's it! It's the alcohol's fault!

I felt him tense up despite the already tight grips he had on me (technically my top but who's counting?). He didn't move for a few seconds, and I was very worried that I'd made a terrible decision. That doubt went away when I felt him move his hands from my back, around front to my chest, leaving them there for a few seconds before slowly bringing them up to my cheeks.

It was then that he pulled _me_ closer, and it was then when he began to actively return the kiss. Any worry I had regarding this decision melted away in seconds. This was my first _proper_ kiss, with an actual guy no less! It felt great. The butterflies in my chest melted away to nothing, my lips felt so warm and comfortable, the warmth of Matt's hands, and the feeling of them keeping me with him was downright euphoric.

I didn't want it to end. Ever.

* * *

 **And that is it for this chapter. This is a rare case where I'm completely satisfied with how this one ended.**

 **My God, it took over a year to get them to kiss. Use that as a scale to figure out how long y'all hornballs will have to wait to see them do the frickiddy-frack in the shack.**

 **Next chapter will show the night from Matt's perspective, and what's going through his mind at this time.**

 **Tis all for now.**

 **I bid you adieu.**


	13. The Party 2

**Published: 26th October 2016**

 **Sorry for the wait on this, school's been keeping me very busy. The next chapter will either be out early November or early December. Probably early December.**

 _ **Summary of last chapter:**_ _The chapter starts with Fred ordering all manners of outrageous party items for that night's party, most of which are comic and sci-fi themed._

 _At around the same time we see Matt and Momo, who are leaving the house. Momo is collected by Gogo to go somewhere (later dialogue leads one to assume that they were gone to SFPD to investigate). Matt meanwhile walks with Glasgow. They reach a park where they play fetch for bit before Matt sits down, feeling an attack coming on. When he recovers he condemns a man named "Jackson", stating that one day he'll kill him and get rid of a "leech"._

 _We cut to Dublin, Ireland where Barbara Bristol is being driven to the house of the head of Murphy's law, Eimear Murphy. Also present is Murphy's 4th lieutenant, Montague Jackson, 3rd lieutenant, Hector Cavendish, Murphy herself, and a being called "Chameleon", a representative of Murphy's law's benefactor, a man named Tyren-Acatia. Murphy asks Montague about the state of his territory, the U.S. western seaboard, particularly San Fransokyo. He states all is fine except for the presence of the Vigilante, and offers to take him out. He is declined the opportunity by Murphy and chameleon then states that if Matt dies then Montague dies. Barbara then adds that after her confrontation with Matt she noticed something peculiar that Montague kept out of a report he gave 4 years ago, having allegedly confronted Matt then. She states that Montague implanted a "leech", an ability he has, into Matt's naval, leaving him defenceless to higher tier opponents. Montague admits his guilt to which Murphy slashes his right eye with her rapier. She then dismisses him from the meeting and sends Barbara to deal with the leech._

 _That night Matt attends Fred's party. He found Momo drinking a guy under the table. She then took him out to the back garden, where there was a pool, and over to Gogo. Honey Lemon and Fred quickly join them, along with Tadashi who's looking for Hiro as he didn't know the party would be the way it was, with over a hundred guests and alcohol. They spot Hiro as he dives from a high diving board, Tadashi nearly going into cardiac arrest. He walks over to group and he and Tadashi get into an argument. The others leave the brothers to their bickering, and Gogo tells Matt that the SFPD are planning to come at him with powerful Mech-Suits. He thanks her and walks away, and as he's passing the pool he is whacked in the head by a ball and falls into the swimming pool. Momo goes into a panic and is screaming for someone to get him out. Tadashi is quick to do so. Afterwards he, Matt, and Hiro all go inside to change._

 _We cut to a few blocks away, where a man in a van parks at a corner and another man gets in. They discuss that they're gonna wait until Fred's party dies down before they go in and abduct about 8 teens, and are going to keep them for a few days due to a benefactor being stifled._

 _Back at the party, Matt, Hiro and Tadashi emerge from a cosplay studio, that being what Fred said they could change into. Matt's a character called "Archer" from a visual novel, Tadashi's Captain America and Hiro's the Vigilante. Tadashi allows Hiro to stay only under the condition that he didn't drink. They rejoin the party, which goes on until the wee hours of the night. At midnight the centre platform of Fred's garden opens up and out rises a statue of the Vigilante, most cheering very loudly. At about one o'clock most have moved inside and are dancing, now more like a prom and less of a rave. Momo is with Wasabi, Gogo with Heathcliff and Fred with Honey. Tadashi is looking for Hiro again, who he saw breaking his promise and drink. Heathcliff points out Hiro. Tadashi and Momo both look and a stunned by what they saw._

 _We then start the night from Hiro's POV. He loses Tadashi, dives into the pool, subsequently gets into argument with Tadashi, Tadashi pulls Matt out of the pool and the three go and change. Hiro and Tadashi then continue their argument to which Matt gets annoyed and lectures them on how not to treat the family you have left. Tadashi agrees to let Hiro stay given he doesn't drink._

 _Skip to about one o'clock when Hiro broke his promise and was drinking and Tadashi was looking for him again. He sees everyone dancing and decides that he wants to dance too. He looks around and sees Matt sitting alone. He walks over to him, and decides in his drunken state, to ask him to dance. Matt agrees, not thinking much of it._

 _Whilst dancing Matt remembers a few steps he learned years ago and leads. After a while Hiro feels Matt tense up sees that he is having another attack. At first he just embraces him, but after a couple minutes he placed his hands on Matt's shoulders, pulled himself up, and kissed him._

* * *

 **Chapter Thirteen: The Party 2**

* * *

Tadashi, Momo and Gogo couldn't believe what they were seeing. Matt, the silent, immovable fighter, was locking lips with Hiro, the prodigious, bullheaded bot-fighter. Everyone else seemed to just dander around them, and they seemed to be in their own, far off world.

Tadashi was about to storm over to them to rip the pair apart. How dare Matt kiss his little brother like that! How dare he!

He was stopped when Gogo grabbed him by the bicep, shaking her head when he shot her a seething look. "Don't, they're probably drunk and have no clue what they're doing." She gurgled, droopy eyed herself.

"I just...why!?" Tadashi exclaimed, gesturing spastically in Matt and Hiro's general direction.

Gogo shrugged. "I'm just surprised that Matt's gay. Did you know?" She asked, pointing to Momo. Momo shook her head vigorously, not taking her eyes off the scene. "Did you know Hiro was?"

"I had a small inkling once...but I didn't think much of it cause I thought it was nothing. Apparently I was wrong."

"By a friggin mile." Fred chuckled, earning a silencing glare from Tadashi.

"I think they're so cute!" Honey said, squeezing Fred tightly.

"What do you think, Mo? ... Mo?"

Wasabi got no answer, as Momo was still gawking, slack-jawed. "Chair." She muttered, so Wasabi put her back in hers.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

After a moment longer, Matt and Hiro split apart, the latter flustered and out of breath. After a few seconds Matt opened his eyes. He looked dazed for a moment before going red in the face himself.

"D-did we just...?" He took his hands off of Hiro's shoulders.

"Kiss?" Hiro suggested.

Matt nodded, getting redder as he did so. "Yeah."

"We...did." Hiro said, taking a couple baby steps back and looking down at the floor. "I'm sorry!" He stormed off, disappearing into the crowd of people.

"Wait-" Matt was thinking of calling Hiro back, he even had his arm halfway up to grab him, but he decided against it. He ran his hands through his hair and exhaled. When he turned to walk away, he saw Momo, Gogo and the rest looking at him. He blushed and turned to walk the other way, undoing the knot keeping the red sleeves of his costume on, making it fall to the floor.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

"Hey." Tadashi said, sitting down next to Hiro, who had his head buried in his arms, was on the floor, against the wall in the unoccupied kitchen. "You okay?"

Hiro shook his head, letting out a muffled sniffle. "Why did I do that? Why the hell did I kiss him?"

Tadashi put one of his arms around his brother and pulled him close. "It'll be okay. You'll see. He didn't look like he was having a bad time."

"I'm not gay."

"Sure you're not." Tadashi chuckled. "In any case, whoever you like, you're still my little brother and I still love you."

Hiro leaned his head on Tadashi's shoulder. "I know." He looked up at his big brother. The look on his face nearly broke Tadashi's heart; he had red, bloodshot eyes with tear-tracks running down his flustered, red cheeks, and sweat making his bangs cling to his forehead. "There's something I need to tell you."

"What?" Tadashi asked softly, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm...I'm...I'm...gay." He whispered.

"Hehe, I never would've guessed." He pulled Hiro into a proper hug. "Thanks for telling me."

"Thanks for...understanding."

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

After a while the party began to die down, people began to migrate into the city to find some bar or club to wake up in in the morning.

Tadashi and Hiro sat in the kitchen for over an hour. They only did a little talking. Most of that time was spent with Hiro trying to build up the courage to walk out the door.

Though when they did talk, Tadashi learned a lot from Hiro's drunkenly loosened lips. He leaned that Hiro has had a crush on Matt for a few weeks, resulting in much internal conflict. He also found out that Hiro had known he was into guys for a couple years but had been trying to convince himself that he wasn't for most of the time. That's the short version. The long version contained much more angst and many more stuttered, tear-filled admissions.

When Hiro wanted to go back to the party, he and Tadashi left together with the latter's arm around his shoulders.

The simple "Hey." Matt emitted when they walked through the door was enough to make Hiro jump a foot in the air. His heart sank in his chest and he made sure to keep his back to his bodyguard. "Do you have a minute to talk?"

Hiro looked up at Tadashi, hoping for some good advice. Tadashi nodded confidently. "It's best to sort it out now." Hiro nodded, still unsure. Tadashi gave him a quick squeeze and then walked away.

"Y-yeah?"

"Momo told me that it's best to clear the air now, make things less complicated."

"Okay." Hiro said, avoiding Matt's eyes and shuffling awkwardly on his feet. He was glad that Tadashi made him drink a couple cups of coffee in the past hour to sober him up.

Matt stepped forward. Hiro's heart jumped. "I don't know what that meant to you, but to me...it's nothing."

And then Hiro's heart shattered.

"I'm sorry if that's not what it was for you, but, you were drunk, I wasn't in my right mind, and I think it was an "In the moment" kind of thing. So...are you okay with that?"

No, no he wasn't, but what could he do?

Hiro had his eyes fixed on a single point on the floor, his bangs overshadowing his eyes. Silent.

"Hiro?" Matt raised his hand to jostle the boy's shoulder, but his head shot up, a smile plastered onto his face.

"Yeah, I feel the same way. I was just really worried that I messed up out friendship, that's all. And being drunk just had me all over the place. I'm okay now."

"Oh. Uh, alright then." An awkward silence permeated the air. "Back to the party then?"

"In a minute, I just gotta go to the bathroom first."

Matt nodded and then began to walk back to the party. Hiro stayed and watched his back, his slightly hunched posture as he kept his hands in his pockets. Without the sleeves of the costume on his toned, pale arms were on show. He turned the corner and was out of sight.

Hiro's knees shook and his breathing became laboured. He leaned against the wall, and with a thud he slid down to the floor. Bringing his knees to his chest he buried into them.

"Such a stupid fucking mistake!" He growled.

"Hey." He heard someone say, accompanied by a quiet whirring. It was Momo.

He didn't respond.

"I heard- saw- know what happened with Matt, and I just want to let you know to not beat yourself up or anything. You never really...had a chance."

"Wh-what?" Hiro asked, scowling up at her.

"No no no no, not like that! It's just that..." She sighed. "Matt didn't have the same kind of childhood me and you, and most people did."

"What?" Hiro said, standing and wiping his nose with the back of his sleeve.

"I mean, I don't know the specifics, but he was raised differently, raised to be a soldier, very militaristic and very traditional. He didn't grow up worrying about first kisses or dates or relationships or anything like that. What I'm trying to say is, no matter who it was that kissed him, let alone another guy, the reaction would've been the same. So, don't feel bad, okay."

Hiro looked down, still feeling rather crappy. "Is he even gay?" He whispered.

"I honestly have no clue." Momo chuckled. "He's never even showed interest in anyone, like, at all. To be honest I thought he was asexual."

"Do you think that there's...any chance at all?"

Momo shrugged. "You can try, I suppose. He didn't exactly push you away back there. I'll try talking to him, if that helps?"

"I-I dunno, maybe I should just not fuck things up more."

"It's your call, but just so you know, in the five, six years I've known him, he didn't really like many people. You're one of first in a long time he's actually admitted to not mind spending time with."

Hiro's eyes widened slightly, filled with apparent hope.

"I don't wanna give you false hope though. Just steel yourself, 'cause it's likely that he'll be uninterested."

"Oh. Okay."

"Wanna hug it out?" She asked, holding out her arms.

Hiro nodded, stepping forward into Momo's embrace.

"God, you picked a bad guy to crush on."

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

"What happened?" Matt asked as Momo approached him.

She shrugged. "Told him what I could, that nothing's likely to happen and that it's best he doesn't try."

"Good." He sighed. "Honestly this is the last thing I need."

"But you didn't seem to be repelled by that kiss," She smirked. "Anything you wanna tell me?"

"I'm not homosexual, if that's what you're thinking."

"Well you certainly ain't heterosexual." Momo grumbled under her breath.

"What?"

"Nothing!"

"No, you said something."

Momo sighed, annoyed. "Fine, I said that you're certainly not straight!"

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that I've literally seen girls that are the embodiment of lust throw themselves at you, and then you ignore them. It's not hard to think of reasons other than disinterest."

"With the kind of work we do, that kind of baggage is unneeded."

"Whatever." Momo said, throwing her arms up in defeat. "It's just, I can tell that Hiro likes you, and just let him down easy. Don't be too...like you."

"Like what?"

"Ya-know, like you. As in cold, flippant and blunt."

 _'but to me...it's nothing'_

"Trust me, I was nice about it."

"I hope so. He's a good kid. Cocky and arrogant but good."

"Yeah, he is.."

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

It was about 3:30 in the morning, and the only ones left at the party were Fred, Honey, Wasabi, Tadashi, Gogo, Hiro, Matt and Momo. And Heathcliff was around, checking to make sure nothing was stolen or broken.

The eight were seated around a dining table, some nursing a headache and downing aspirin, eg: Momo, Tadashi, Wasabi, Gogo, and Honey, others were still kicking, eg: Fred, and then there was Matt and Hiro, who were sitting silently, diagonally across the table from one another.

A quiet bang from elsewhere in the house perked Matt's ears. "Did anyone hear that?" He asked, tilting his head to try and locate the source of the sound.

"Hear what?" Momo groaned.

"Like...footsteps."

Everybody went silent, straining their ears to try and hear the sound Matt claimed was there.

"I don't hear any-" Was all Honey Lemon could get out before grey, soda can sized canister landed on the table. Before anyone could make heads or tails of what was going on, the room was engulfed in smoke.

Immediately everybody began to cough violently! Their eyes watered, their throats became scratchy and their chests started heaving. One after another, they all fell with a thud, unconscious, until only Matt remained, vision blurred and completely on guard.

He saw vague silhouettes of people walking into the smoke cloud, unaffected by its symptoms. The last thing he saw before falling forward to join the others were the dark eyes of a gas mask, looking down at him with a cackle.

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

About a dozen or so darkly dressed mercenaries entered Fred's mansion, splitting up into two groups, one to collect the teenagers, and the other to ransack the place for any valuables.

"Bring the eight of 'em out back," One of the mercs ordered, standing in the centre of the operation making sure everything got done.

"Boss!" Another declared. "We've checked the entire house. No sign of the butler!"

"Doesn't matter. One old man can't do anything, and even if he calls the police, we'll be long gone."

"Oh I wouldn't be as confident as you are if I were you."

The boss' eyes widened as he heard the cool, collected, stone-cold voice behind him. He reacted far too slow, resulting in his spine being broken in two by a single kick.

The man he was just addressing was just as slow, as with a flick of his wrist, Heathcliff sent a knife from his sleeve right into the man's neck.

With another flick of the wrist, and with supreme marksmanship, the butler sent another knife into the chest of another who had noticed him from up the stairs.

"Oh bother, that's going to stain the oak."

From behind him he heard the yell of another attacker. Without even needing to look, he stepped out of the way of the man's trench knife. He attacked again, his bombastic movements contrasting greatly to Heathcliff's point-precise dodges and counters. In seconds he had the man on ground with a crushed esophagus. He also took his trench knives. They came in very handy when blocking the strike of another's truncheon. A couple of quick jabs had him blinded and bleeding.

Then he heard the cocking of guns behind him. He peeked over his shoulder to see 4 more guys, standing around the entrance to the dining room, others behind them with the teens over their shoulders.

"Master Frederick!"

"Lower your toys, boys. Alfred here will give you no more trouble." Another character said as he walked onto the scene. He was a young man, wearing a white fedora, along with an open, white overcoat, with nothing underneath, and black jeans. His hair was a deep, royal blue with black eyes. He spoke with a Southern-Irish accent, and held himself in a relaxed manner, with his hands in his pockets and a smirk imprinted onto his face. "My name is-"

"I don't give a damn!" Heathcliff declared, leaping at the character with a jab. The man slipped to the side, avoiding the trench-knife by centimetres.

"That's rude." He said, distancing himself.

"You're with _them_ , aren't you, that deplorable organization?" Heathcliff scowled, taking a fighting stance.

"Murphy's Law? If that's what you're talking about them then yeah, I'm with them."

Heathcliff lunged at him, attempting an easily dodged roundhouse kick. Sneakily, he then flicked the trench knife from up his hand, catching the man by surprise and cutting his cheek. Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, the butler put all of his weight behind his fist with the remaining trench-knife, and struck fast for the man's bare chest.

His fist aimed true, the sound of flesh being hit resounded around the room, but something was wrong. The knife made no cut, and the man wasn't even winded. Heathcliff's eyes widened, and he quickly leapt back.

The man chuckled.

"Sir! The cargo has been collected and is being transported!"

"Very good. I'd say it's time to end this, eh Alfred?" The man held his hand out in front of him, palm down. Some sort of pale blue fluid began to secrete from his skin, forming droplets the size of eggs dangling from his fingertips.

The man whipped his hand forward, sending the five droplets barreling at Heathcliff with the speed of a whip! Not being a spry young man anymore, they hit him dead in the chest, sending him flying into the wall behind him. He coughed up a mouthful of blood, falling forward onto the floor with a thump.

"Hm!" The man sneered. "Let's go."

* * *

 ********BREAK********

* * *

 **MATT'S POV**

* * *

My limbs each felt like they weighed a hundred kilograms, and that I was at the bottom of a pool of wet cement. And they hurt. Not a sharp hurt, but a dull, broad, ever-present ache.

With monumental effort I opened my eyes. Some good it did, my vision was as blurry as sin and the stuffy air stung my eyes.

I groaned as I moved my heavy body into a sitting position, throwing myself against a wall behind me to stop from falling back to the floor.

My mind was a complete fog, and I could barely recollect my own name. Then, the events of the entire night came back to me.

* * *

 **EARLIER THAT NIGHT**

"Heads up!" I heard someone urgently yell. I gazed lazily in the direction of the warning, not completely registering its meaning in the one second between hearing it and seeing a football flying forward my face. My tired reflexes couldn't get my hands out fast enough to stop it, so instead I felt it collide with the side of my face, hitting my right eye mostly. I stumbled back, losing my groggy footing on the wet stone I was on. It only took a second for one of my feet to trip over the other, gravity betraying me. I put my hands out to catch my fall, but I felt was wetness.

I plunged into the swimming pool, feeling all reason leave my mind as I began to kick and thrash about. Then I began to get the flashbacks, the unpleasant feeling of being submerged in water bringing up things that ought to remain buried.

I began to get cold, like, really cold. Antarctic level cold. My limbs reached around in what felt like molten lead. My lungs began to burn at the lack of oxygen. Though it wasn't death I was fearing, it was something else.

"HIRO! HIROOOOO!" I tried to yell, only making my lungs burn more. I didn't care. " **HIROYUKI**!" A splatter of red exploded into my field of vision, eventually encompassing everything.

Then a falling sensation overcame me. Falling and falling, further and further with a feeling akin to what I think having magma in your veins would be like. Then I collided with something, feeling my back crack before beginning to submerge deeper. The burning in my veins got worse and worse to the point where all logical thought stopped. All I wanted was to die.

Then I felt something grab onto me, raising me up and up until I was free. Free from the falling, free from the cold, free from the burning.

I gasped loudly, taking in as much oxygen as I feasibly could, basking in the liberation from my aquatic hell.

I scrambled for the edge, anything to get onto the land. As soon as I felt something solid I pulled myself out so fast one would think I was trying to outrun the Grim Reaper itself, coughing up water as I did.

I was taking deeper and deeper breaths as I became more and more conscious of my surroundings. The multitude of people, the loud noises, the music, the chattering, the smells of food, drink and chlorine. I looked frantically side to side, looking for someone in particular.

"Matt?"

There she was. She then placed her hand on my shoulder. A small gesture yet a meaningful one. I sat back, my wits finally coming back to me in their entirety. I felt someone put a kind-of damp towel around my shoulders, I didn't notice who.

"You okay?" Hiro asked me. He was probably the one who put the towel there.

"Ah-ah-I'm fi-fi-fine." I stuttered, beginning to feel the cold. "I'm fine." I said again, stopping my teeth from chattering. I stood, my shaking legs barely supporting me. I ran the towel through my drenched hair before shoving it back into Hiro's hands. I looked at the pool to see Tadashi getting out. Seeing as he was fully dressed it wasn't difficult to see he was the one who pulled me out. "Thank you, Tadashi."

"No problem." He said, wringing out his shirt.

"You can dry off inside. There's stuff you can put on upstairs." The house-owner said as he walked over to us.

"Thanks." Tadashi said, beginning to walk inside. I followed as he'd probably know the way better than me. Hiro followed us up too, up the stairs to a room full of costumes, though the pair of them started arguing pretty quickly.

When the host said that there'd be something to change into I thought there'd be normal clothes.

Apparently not.

I could probably salvage something wearable from this hodge-podge of colour, the sheer vibrancy of which made my head hurt. I saw a pair of pants thrown over a chair that looked like they'd fit me, and a plain white tee on one of the hangers. There was a dryer I could put my things into at the back. Yeah, this'd do for now.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, the verbal blows being exchanged by the two behind me beginning to get on my nerves.

Then I heard a smacking sound bounce around the room.

"That is _not_ cool!" I heard Hiro growl. He and Tadashi, it seems, had escalated their argument further.

"A lot of things you do are not _cool_ , Hiro. Now, get dry, get dressed, and get ready for me to take you home."

"God you're like a broken record. What are you so afraid of, huh? That I'm gonna get in a fight, that I'll get poisoned, raped, robbed or beaten? What is your problem? What is the danger you're so afraid of!?"

God, Hiroyuki and I never argued like this. Me and Amaya do but never with Hiroyuki. Maybe it's just an age thing. But Christ don't they ever shut up! I'm getting a migraine!

"I just don't want you to be exposed to any bad influences. That's all."

"Bad influences? The only "bad influence" I've been exposed to tonight, is you! You and your yelling and-"

 **WHAM**

I slammed my hand against the wall, hard, to get the attention of those two headaches.

"Will you two just shut it." I growled, pinching the bridge of my nose tighter. "Both of you. You're brothers, act like it."

"But he-" I raised my hand to silence Hiro.

"Since you both live with your aunt, I'm assuming you've lost your parents. Am I right?"

They nodded, clearly a bit surprised by my statement.

"Then you know what's it's like to lose family, and how valuable what you have afterwards is. Don't let petty things do this to you. Tadashi, Hiro isn't as thick as you think he is," He actually isn't. "he knows what'll kill him and what won't." Debatable. "Hiro, I can guarantee you that your brother only does what he does because he feels an overwhelming, nearly compulsive need to protect you from anything and everything that might take you as well. Am I right?" At least that's what I gathered from how Amaya acted those years so.

Tadashi nodded, avoiding my eye.

"Okay. Now be quiet, my head feels like nails are being screwed into it as it is."

My little talk worked, as the two stopped the yelling and came to some sort of agreement. Hiro then tried talking me into wearing some fruity getup. Admittedly it didn't look too horrendous, so after a while I agreed to eat wear it just to get both of the Hamadas to stop badgering me. Hiro decided to wear a "me" costume. Not that he knew it was me but whatever. It was still unsettling.

When we were done in the room I just went straight downstairs again. After an encounter with Momo, who was laughing hysterically at seeing me, even more so when she saw Hiro, I decided to take a hopefully permanent seat for the night and watch the others party themselves to death.

Shortly after that I heard the host make an announcement over the speakers. I paid little attention, and it wasn't until I saw the flaming statue of myself in the centre of the yard that my attention was got. Momo was in absolute hysterics again. Of course she was, she probably found this whole thing hilarious, especially since I was present.

After that it seemed that the party was restarted with renewed vigour. The music got louder, the people danced and cheered to the point where I felt as of my head was being squeezed in a vice whilst simultaneously being drilled in by the front, back and top.

To be completely honest I don't completely remember moving inside from the garden, just the hustle and bustle of an overzealous crowd sweeping me in. I reassigned myself to another secluded chair, well as secluded as one could get in this environment.

So I sat, again satisfied in watching the others celebrate. Besides, Momo was taking in more alcohol that I was comfortable with so I kept an eye on her. I saw Tadashi's black friend approach her. He seemed fairly responsible so I was relatively unconcerned when she wrapped her arms around his neck and he lifted her out of her chair and onto the dance floor.

A few minutes later, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Hiro slowly making his way in my general direction, clearly very very drunk with his hair sticking to his head with sweat.

"H-hey." He said, giving a small wave. "So I was wondering if maybe..." He trailed off, turning very red for some reason.

"Maybe what?" I asked, wondering what weird drunken words would come out of his mouth. He turned even redder. I could tell by the way he clenched his hands and held a rigid stance that he was nervous.

"Would you- would you- would you..." He seemed to have trouble forming his words. Luckily I'm a somewhat patient person...sometimes.

"Wouldyouliketomaybedancewithme!?"

What? He wants me to...dance, with him? Just how drunk is he? From here I can see at least 4 large breasted girls who'd be drunk enough to dance with a monkey if it asked. Why not go for one of them?

"Uhh..." Maybe I should just agree. He'll probably forget by the morning. In any case, my ass was beginning to get numb so I should probably move a bit. "...sure." I stood and adjusted the skirt part of the costume that got a bit crooked while I was sitting. I walked past Hiro towards the dance floor. "You comin'?"

"Yeah! Yeah, I'm coming." He scampered after me, apparently shellshocked that I agreed. That or he's just really out of it.

"Just so you know, I'm not much of dancer. Not like this anyway." I said, deciding to give him a fair warning. I even offered a little smile to possibly reassure him. I dunno, I've never danced at a party like this with someone before.

"Me neither." He said.

We stood there for a moment in silence, not sure as to what to do.

The fact that the fast paced song ended and was replaced by something slower was lucky.

"I guess, like this." Hiro said, getting closer and putting his hands on my shoulders. It really emphasised the height difference between us. I put my right hand on his hip, and took his right hand in my left one. All the while I was trying to remember the basic dance lessons I took when I was like 9. Back then Hiroyuki was my partner and we were the exact same height, so dancing with someone a good bit shorter than me while trying to remember the lessons themselves, all the while with a godamn headache, was an annoying task.

"I did learn a few easy steps when I was younger." I said, moving my feet into a vaguely familiar position. "Question is if I can remember them."

I felt Hiro's hand shaking in mine for some reason. Odd, not like it was cold or anything.

I took a step with the music, and the kid stumbled to keep up. Maybe I should've given a little warning. He was a few seconds behind me, but I slowed down for him. After a bit longer he was keeping up just fine.

Then I felt it, the creeping sensation in my gut, as if a ghost had reached in there and began messing with my innards. I stopped dancing, the pain beginning to brim. It got severely worse over the course of the next ten seconds, causing my grip on Hiro's hand to unconsciously intensify as some sort of stress release reflex.

"Matt?"

Shit. My eyes snapped open, looking into his dark ones. If I wasn't mistaken I'd've thought they were filled with worry.

Hiro managed to pry his right hand free from my grip, and then snake his arms around my torso. By now I didn't really have control over much of what I did, so I just reciprocated his gesture.

Over the next couple of minutes the pain spread completely to my chest and head. That was no surprise. I just tightened my grip around Hiro.

I pried my eyes open, looking down into Hiro's again. Then Hiro did something I would've considered odd if I was in my right mind. His hands went up to my shoulders again, pulling himself up onto his toes while simultaneously pulling me down a couple inches. Never in a thousand lifetimes would I have expected what he did next. He...kissed...me. At first our lips were just pushed up against each other, and I could smell, and vaguely taste, the alcohol coming from him.

I tensed up, like, a lot. I had _no clue_ as to what to do next. Even if I _was_ in my functioning mind that'd be the same. But I wasn't in my functioning mind, and that is what led me to move my hands from his back, around to the front of his chest, leaving them there for a few seconds before slowly bringing them up to his cheeks.

It was then that I pulled him into the kiss, doing so only because the deeper it went the fainter my pain became. It was instinctual. It was then that my mind came back a little bit, and the fact that this was technically my first kiss tickled my brain.

After a moment longer, during which the pain that tormented me dulled almost completely, we split apart. I opened my eyes, a bit dazed, and looked at Hiro, who was obviously very flustered and out of breath. I then realized completely what had just happened, and I became almost as red he was

"D-did we just...?" I removed my hands from Hiro's shoulders.

"Kiss?" He suggested.

I nodded, my face getting hotter as I did so. "Yeah."

"We...did." He said, taking a few small steps back and looking down at the floor. "I'm sorry!" He declared before storming off, disappearing into the crowd of people.

"Wait-" I was thinking of calling him back, but he decided against it since I wouldn't even know where to begin if he did. I ran his hands through my hair and exhaled.

I really didn't need any of this.

I turned to walk away, then immediately saw Momo, Gogo and the rest all looking at me. Dammit. I then turned and walked the other way, deciding that it was too hot to keep the sleeves of the costume on.

* * *

 **PRESENTLY**

* * *

 **NORMAL POV**

"Well damn." Matt mumbled, looking around and seeing that Momo, Gogo, Hiro, Tadashi, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, Fred were all unconscious and also shackled to the ground. Momo was on his right, on hers was Hiro, then Wasabi on his, then Honey, Gogo, Tadashi and then Fred on the end. He moved to wipe the grogginess from his eyes but was stopped by the shackles that chained him to the floor.

He pulled on them, testing how tough they were. Steel. They were steel, or at least something as hard as steel. Besides, he was still out of it because of the gas they used.

"Finally awake are you? Impressive."

Matt's head snapped up, and to no surprise he saw a guard sitting on a chair across from them. He was wearing a very dark green coat and pants, military boots, a camouflage hat with an elongated visor, and he had his collar upturned to hide the bottom half of his face. He had pale skin, green eyes, and brown curls sticking out from under the hat. He was also holding a shotgun between his spread legs, the stock on the floor.

"Are you Murphy's Law?"

"Is that really a question?"

"I guess not."

"Good. Now sit there like a good little dog and be quiet."

"As soon as I'm free I'm going to take that gun, shove it down your throat, and pull the trigger." Matt said, sitting up and glaring hell at the man.

"Hehe, I wouldn't've thought that guns were your forte. Possibly something a bit more...old fashioned."

Matt's eyes narrowed at the man. _'Does he know something?'_ He asked himself. _'No, he couldn't.'_

Over the next few minutes the others began to wake. Wasabi first, followed by Honey Lemon, then Tadashi, Gogo, Fred, Momo and then Hiro. The whole time the man was tapping his gun on the floor, the sounds echoing throughout the mostly empty room.

"So, the gang's all here." The man said, smirking with his eyes.

"Wh-where are we?" Honey asked, beginning to panic. "Where are we?"

"It's okay, Honey!" Gogo said, scooting closer to the girl. "It'll be okay. You'll see."

"Wishful thinking." The man said.

"I have a lot of money!" Fred declared. "Let everyone else go and I'll give you as much as you want!"

"That's already planned." Another man, who just came in the door, said. "We're gonna ransom you of to your father, who _actually_ has a lot of money." He looked around at the rest of the group. "The rest of you, on the other hand," He smirked. "will go to the highest bidder."

"Especially you pretty things." The first man stood, walking over to Gogo and Honey, leaning down and grabbing the latter by the chin. "You'll fetch a nice price." He looked to the side, looking Momo up and down. "You'll probably go cheap. Or who knows, anyone can turn up to those auctions. All kinds of people." He stood upright again. "You young men will probably be put to work. You look strong enough." He then walked over to Hiro, looking him up and down, making him shuffle closer to Momo. "I'm guessing you'll end up in some pervert's sex dungeon." He chuckled.

"You let him out of here!" Tadashi yelled. "He's only a child! Let him go!"

He was ignored.

*WHACK-PUH*

The room went quiet. The man went quieter. He reached his hands up to his face, feeling his right temple, and the warm, slightly viscous fluid that was present there. His eyes turned to look at Matt, who was staring right back.

"Are you really in a position to be spitting on people? I mean, we could make your stay here very pleasant, ya know, with food, water, regular bathroom breaks. Or we could make it unpleasant. No food, no water and letting you stew in anything that comes out of you. Which sounds better?"

"Bite me, you dickless cunt."

...

The teens were shocked into silence, not believing the stupidity Matt spoke with.

"I think you need to teach this little boy a lesson in respect." The second man said, holding up a small silver key.

The first man smirked. "I think you're right." He smacked the stock of his gun right into Matt's head, drawing a drop of blood. He then took the key, loosened Matt's shackles from the floor, and pulled him to his feet, which were also in cuffs. "I'll be in _that_ room." He then pulled Matt by the collar out of room. He nearly fell back onto the ground, being only to shuffle forward a few inches at a time. When they were out, the second man shut the door with a sick smile.

"When your little friend comes back he'll know how to respect his superiors."

No-one said anything. Not a word as the ticking of the man's watch went on and on. Momo was the worst of them. She was visibly distraught, nearly on the verge of tears with worry. Hiro shuffled as close as he could, leaning his head on her shoulder to try and offer some sort of comfort.

Five minutes went by, and a dull scream echoed through the halls. Momo donned a look of utter terror, secretly confused as to why Matt didn't fight his way out. She guessed that he was weak from the gas, and that this binds were actually keeping him tame.

Another five minutes went by and footsteps could be heard coming down the hall. The door opened. The man was dragging Matt the collar, his heels scraping against the floor. His arms were bruised all over, a few long cuts here and there. Blood was dripping from the corner of his mouth, and more blood stained his hair.

The man threw him back into place next to Momo.

"Matt!" She declared. She tried to reach over to pull his head into her lap, but he was about a foot too far away. "Matt?" All she could tell with his back to her was that he was at least breathing.

"He'll be like that for a while." The man said, retaking his seat.

Momo glared at him. Glared nothing but bloody murder.

A few minutes went by. No-one said a word, no-one made a sound.

"What time is it?" The first man asked.

The second man looked at his watch. "4:28. Why?"

"No reason."

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

The two men looked at each other, the first gesturing for the second to answer it. "Who is it?" He asked. No answer. He grabbed the doorknob and twisted it. "I said; who is- *GHUHUUCK*!" He made a grotesque sound as no answer came from the other side, but instead a blade pierced through the wood and through his sternum, emerging from the other side of his back. He stood there, gurgling and spasming a he leaked to death. The blade was pulled away and the body fell with a splat into a pool of blood.

Everybody looked at the door as it was opened, pushing the body out of the way. Everybody gasped. In the doorway stood a figure, clothed in black and red, with a white helmet with red fur hanging off the back on his head, and duel swords in an X on his back.

"The Vigilante." Hiro whispered, awe and disbelief in his eyes. Meanwhile Momo glanced over at "Matt", and was 8 different magnitudes of confused.

The Vigilante stepped through the threshold of the door, pointing his sword at the first, still alive, man, who in turn pointed his shotgun at the Vigilante.

"Took you long enough."

* * *

 **And that is it for this chapter.**

 **I put out a suggestion a few chapters ago, where I said that I was thinking of doing a fact-file pseudo-fanfic where all of my OCs are categorised are kept track of, physical appearance, chapter appearance, character history etc. Let me know if you think it's a good idea.**

 **Please review any opinions on the chapter, and have a Happy Halloween!**

 **Tis all for now,**

 **I bid you adieu.**


	14. STORY IS BEING MOVED

**ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THE STORY**

 **The story "A Vigilante's Desires" is going to be DISCONTINUED as a "Big Hero 6" fanfiction, but it is going to be CONTINUED on FICTIONPRESS as an original story.**

 **Reasons for Change:**

First: in this story, there will be mostly (practically only) my own characters, plot lines, settings, and concepts that would rarely incorporate the Big Hero 6 world. There'd be so much of my own stuff that it'd barely be fanfiction at a certain point.

Second: being a fanfic restrains me at times, and I am forced to include characters I don't want to and force plot points that are tedious and slow the story down.

Third: the ship I established would happen (Matt & Hiro) no longer appeals to me like it used to, and who I plan to have him end up with is far more interesting and makes for a better story.

Fourth: at the point I currently am in the story, it's too late to introduce concepts and future plot that I now want to include. 

Fifth: it just feels tedious and irritating to write in characters I don't want to. Aside from Gogo, there was nothing really extraordinary any Big Hero 6 character could contribute.

 **To repeat: this story is going be restarted on FictionPress, Fanfiction's sister website.**

 **I am very grateful to everyone who has reviewed, followed, and favourited so far, and hope that you'll be interested enough in my story to pick it up again.**

 **The new name of the story is still undecided - there's a chance I'll keep the current one - but when I post the first chapter of the redux, I'll post it's name on this story as well.**

 **I don't know when I'll start the new story - I'm in a very stressful year in school - and I need to have a good long think about what my story's going to contain, and make sure I myself know what I'm going to do and when I'm going to do it.**

 **So, for now, I bid you adieu.**


	15. New Story Announcement

Hey guys, the first chapter of the redux of my story is up now. It's called "Rewritten Edge", and it's up on FictionPress, Wattpad, Archive of our Own, Tumblr, and DeviantArt, so pick your poison. My name on each of those formats is "OrionRaiju" or "Orion-Raiju" on Tumblr. I hope y'all can enjoy it again this time around.


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